In Praise of Geared Guitar Tuners

Common wisdom seems to be that geared guitar tuners, the ones that stick out like Mickey Mouse ears, are somehow "just wrong" on the ukulele.

I sometimes feel that way myself. It seems like a uke ought to have its tuning buttons pointing out the back.

Yet while direct tuners have their advocates, there is a reason for so much interest in and love of Peheds and Gotoh Planetary tuners. With those you get the convenience of a geared tuner and the look of a direct tuner.

I think if we can get past the way a uke is "supposed" to look, there is a lot to love about geared guitar tuners.

First they can be had fore relatively cheap. Unless you are going for high end Waverlys, high quality guitar tuners are cheaper than the Peghed or Gotoh alternatives. And if you do ever get some high end Waverlys - well they really are fantastic tuners - smooth as silk and precise.

Second they work really well. Rarely do you get slipping or binding.

Third, they are precise - you get a 14:1 ratio which makes fine tuning easy.

Fourth, they last a long time. Yes, I've seen some really cheap ones that didn't last long. But I've had guitars with fairly cheap tuners where after 50 years the tuner works as good as new. I've had an 8 year old Kamaka with direct tuners that were already sticking.

Fifth, they hold in place and generally don't require adjustment.

Have you ever seen the cheap direct tuners they put on really cheap ukes? They are really just imitation tuning machines out of cheap metal. Wouldn't those ukes be better off with cheap guitar tuners?

We can look at the guitar tuners on a lot of the cheaper concert sized ukes and disparage them, or we can see them as maybe being better tuners.

And even on tenors. Direct tuners really are a problem on tenors, at least for me. I've got a custom Ko'olau with premium Waverlys and they are fantastic.

Bottom line, for a lot of ukes the guitar tuners are great.

No argument here. Quality, in my experience, always pays off in the long run.

I think the straight tuners on my soprano look great. Can't really imagine it any other way. On the negative side, with the straight tuners I'm more likely to settle for "good enough" tuning rather than really in tune tuning. That could be a problem.

I like the look of the gold geared tuners on my Kelii concert, but the white ones on my Kala KA-S--they look huge! I wish the buttons were smaller or darker or something. I will say, though, though I don't like their size, the Kala's tuners work wonderfully, especially for such an inexpensive instrument. Very smooth and hold the tune. Not sure I could say that for cheap friction tuners. (I really like my KA-S, for the money it couldn't be a better starter/beater uke.)

For me, I want the tuners to work. I care a bit about the appearance of my ukes, but honestly whether the tuners stick out the sides or not is irrelevant to me. Sometimes the buttons are made of interesting materials, too, and add to the appearance of the uke. But generally, it's not something I notice. When I got my Kamaka pineapple, I got a group shot of all my ukes. The Kamaka's the only one without "ears," as you can see in the photo, but you can still see them a bit. Honestly, I think the Kelii's tuners blend in well with the golden koa and look well suited to the size of the uke.

I'd say close to 90% of our customers pick the geared tuners over friction pegs.

There are great geared pegs, cheap nasty geared pegs, great friction pegs and nasty friction pegs, plus the ones that look like friction pegs but, no wait, they're geared!

I have had both (I even specified guitar style geared pegs in the past), and I come firmly down in the friction peg camp. Good friction pegs that is. I'd no more change the friction pegs on a uke to gears than I would put guitar tuners on a violin. Sticky out ears on soprano ukes make my teeth itch.

I do think that the popularity of the uke now has encouraged builders to put guitar pegs on, to appeal to guitarists. That and the fact that the tenor size is increasingly popular, so manufacturers make a tenor, put guitar pegs on it, then spec their smaller ukes in the same way.

Of course, it's whatever works for you, and I agree that on a modern 14 fret tenor (rather than a shorter scale vintage one) they do work and don't look out of place, but I do think that the 14:1 gear ratio is too much- you just spend hours and hours winding when you put new strings on. Despite all I read online, you CAN tune a uke accurately with good quality friction pegs.

I tend to agree with Phil. If you buy cheap friction tuners, you are likely to get crappy ones. However, there are vintage Martin tenors with geared tuners, so they have been used on ukes for a while. I have a concert with good, geared tuners too. On soprano ukuleles, I think geared tuners look very ugly and prefer high end friction tuners.

The day I'm on a stage, and the most awkward thing you see is the tuners on my uke, is the day I celebrate.

spookelele said:

The day I'm on a stage, and the most awkward think you see is the tuners on my uke, is the day I celebrate.

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Hehe, that's funny..I believe that people should use whatever tuners they want. Geared tuners are great for many instruments. The only instrument on which they seem out of place to me is the soprano uke. And that does not mean I discourage people from having them on sopranos if that's what they like. There are more serious things to worry about in this world.

While I have a choice, I'll stick with geared tuners. I'm extremely particular about being in tune, and I'd rather go overkill on the gear ratio than underkill. The day I'll consider pegs, even planetary tuner pegs, is when they start equipping ukes with violin fine tuners. Gear ratio too high for changing strings? I have a couple cheap, nifty string winders that make a breeze of the cranking, and how often are you changing strings that that's a real problem? The only remotely convincing argument I've heard for preferring pegs (apart from personal aesthetic preferences) is because geared tuners can add a bit of weight to the headstock. But then, I opt for slotted headstocks when I can (heavier still), and don't play the dinky sizes at all.

I find it ironic that people talk about the "classic" look (tradition) when they play the most untraditional music in the most untraditional ways on their ukes made with the most untraditional woods and designs. Go figure. But to each his own, and if you prefer pegs, more power to you. I understand the aesthetic point, even the link to heritage; I'm just more of a pragmatist and too used to "ears" on various instruments to be bothered by them. In fact, the spare look of pegs just seems a bit cheap to me—irrational associations, I know.

Geared tuners for me all the way. Personal preference. I play guitar and 'ukulele, not violin and cello. Ric

Are we talking about gear vs friction tuners or ukulele gear tuners vs. guitar gear tuners?

Guitar guitar tuners are fine as long as the tuning buttons are not too big imo.

drbekken said:

Hehe, that's funny..I believe that people should use whatever tuners they want. Geared tuners are great for many instruments. The only instrument on which they seem out of place to me is the soprano uke. And that does not mean I discourage people from having them on sopranos if that's what they like. There are more serious things to worry about in this world.

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yea. like who makes the best strings, or does satin sound better than gloss, or are radiused necks snake oil?
I like quality geared best. then quality friction. then cheap geared, then cheap friction.

I am talking about geared guitar-style tuners but sized for a ukulele.

I really prefer the "Traditional" look and simplicity of function of a straight wooden tuner. If installed properly with some peg dope they work just fine. They even stand up to an occasional bump by a knuckle when playing a G7. Peg heads react. I don't mind ears on a Baritone or Tenor as they seem like little guitars in form and function.

katysax said:

I am talking about geared guitar-style tuners but sized for a ukulele.

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While I can appreciate the 'traditional' aspect of friction tuners, use of them causes me to have frequent utterances of profanity inspired by the herky-jerky frustrations that follow.

In the year of 2015 technology has evolved, and now there are better, mechanical ways to wind a string, for which you can thank your favorite diety!

I've have both PEGHEDS (koa tenor Fluke) and Gotoh UPT-L (lava concert Flea), and they work fine, but for me, a bit pricey no matter where you look.

Geared guitar-style tuners work just great, and do not cost more than $16 for a good set from a reputable maker, like the Grover 9NB, which you can get from Sweetwater, Amazon, among others.



I've replaced the friction tuners on 3 ukes with these Grover 9NBs and they work great. Note that the buttons on these are smaller than tuners sold for 'guitar'.

On my recently acquired tenor walnut/birch rosette Flea, I replaced the standard Grover friction tuners with a different set of geared tuners from pinpegpickups, which you can buy individually, however many you need for $1.80 each. These have 2 holes which give you the option for a slot-head installation too.



I used these because I already had them in the parts box, and did not want to spend for the Gotoh UPT-L tuners right now. Installing these above, I did not drill the holes and screw them in, instead I used black zip ties to hold them on, since I know that later they will be replaced and I don't want to make or leave any unneccesary holes. The shaft is a bit longer than needed so I made a plastic shim to put between the tuner and the headstock, otherwise the tuner shafts would be too long and touching each other since the Fluke/Flea headstock has the tuners opposing each other, and a shaft longer than 20mm is basically too long.

See photo:



Some explanation, in case anyone asks: I covered the jagged/sharp length of the zip ties with heat-shrink tubing to protect the wood from getting chewed up, as well as the tuner shafts.

I know it's 'busy' looking, but it works just fine.

The loop over the top (zip ties inside a length of fish-tank airline tubing) goes on a hook on the wall, and I have this on all my ukes.

This way all I need is a simple hook and not a fancy 'uke holder', and the loop is easily inverted behind the headstock if you want it out of the way.

Wow.. that's bordering on steam punk.

maybe woulda been easier to just use shorter tuners?

Or, if you got money you need to spend:
Robson's, the first set going onto a tenor uke, (The snakewood, not the white.)

Steveperrywriter said:

Or, if you got money you need to spend: View attachment 75762
Robson's, the first set going onto a tenor uke, (The snakewood, not the white.)

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looks much better...the first ones had buttons that were too big.