Light weight tuning pegs

I would like to replace the poor quality tuning machines that came on my Aiersi Soprano. They are not very smooth and so difficult to tune, especially the wound low G string.

Any suggestions for light weight good quality friction pegs for my soprano. Trying to get smoother tuning and lighter weight to help minimize head drop.

Thanks!

Pegheads.

Works great, super light,

Operator error.

Gotoh UPTs are my tuner of choice at around $60 a set. They are 4:1 geared tuners.

http://www.theukulelesite.com/accessories/more/tuners/gotoh-upt-tuner-upgrade.html

For less expensive friction tuners, you might try these:

http://www.stewmac.com/Hardware_and...ng_Machines/Grover_Ukulele_Friction_Pegs.html

Gotohs are good, but they are not as light as PEGHEDS. If you read www.ukeeku.com review you will see what he says about each of the geared tuners. PEGHEDS are warranted for life from the manufacturer. PEGHEDS are $56.00 a set plus the shipping from me. They come with two different shaft lengths , so if you want less sticking out the back, if your headstock is 15mm or less, you have a choice between a 19 mm or a 27.5 mm length shaft. All of the internal stuff is the same for both of them

Gotohs install in a 3/8" hole, which is not hard to make. Pegheds require a hole that is precisely tapered, which is harder to make. A suitable tapered peg hole reamer is costly. I think mine was about $70, IIRC. A cheap hardware store reamer may not have the correct taper, at the least the ones I've tried didn't.

Just a question, do tuners, regardless of type or make, really make a noticeable difference in weight at the head of a ukulele?

WhenDogsSing said:

Gotoh UPTs are my tuner of choice at around $60 a set. They are 4:1 geared tuners.

http://www.theukulelesite.com/accessories/more/tuners/gotoh-upt-tuner-upgrade.html

For less expensive friction tuners, you might try these:

http://www.stewmac.com/Hardware_and...ng_Machines/Grover_Ukulele_Friction_Pegs.html

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I concur. The Gotoh UTP's are great.

Rllink said:

Just a question, do tuners, regardless of type or make, really make a noticeable difference in weight at the head of a ukulele?

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I noticed a difference between the Mya Moe tenors that I had which had the Gotoh's closed gear tuners and the Pegheads.

Rllink said:

Just a question, do tuners, regardless of type or make, really make a noticeable difference in weight at the head of a ukulele?

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Yes they do, and they also make a huge difference in sustain, along with several other building factors.

whistleman123 said:

I would like to replace the poor quality tuning machines that came on my Aiersi Soprano. They are not very smooth and so difficult to tune, especially the wound low G string.

Any suggestions for light weight good quality friction pegs for my soprano. Trying to get smoother tuning and lighter weight to help minimize head drop.

Thanks!

Click to expand...

I notice that you asked about friction pegs, not geared.

Grover friction pegs have a great reputation as a low to mid priced, quality friction tuner. You can get them from Stewmac.com or Elderly Instruments, as well as Amazon and other online sources. Grover makes several different models.


Scooter

Allen said:

Yes they do, and they also make a huge difference in sustain, along with several other building factors.

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That is interesting. I would have never even given it a thought. Good to know.

The Waverly friction tuners are pretty good. Actually about the best I've seen as far as friction pegs go.

Just another comment on Gotoh UPT. I had them swapped in on my Grandfather's Taropatch. I was shocked at how noticeable the weight reduction was. Granted, this was for 8 tuners rather than your 4.
I wish I had done some recording for before and after to better analyze the sound.

I don't know about the weight but Grover has a new tuner out the 6B/W and it has a tapered nylon bushing . Looks good to me. I've always thought Grover made a great friction
tuner. If you look at the 4B/W they have nylon washers .

Allen said:

The Waverly friction tuners are pretty good. Actually about the best I've seen as far as friction pegs go.

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I replaced the friction pegs on my Favilla 1950's soprano with these: http://www.stewmac.com/Hardware_and...g_Machines/Waverly_Ukulele_Friction_Pegs.html and for friction tuners they are the best I have tried. That being said, I still do prefer geared tuners. I have Gotoh UPTs on one soprano and they work just great. I have not had the pleasure of trying Pegheads yet.

There is a reliable dealer in Canada who sells very nice reamers for $37 each. It costs $9 to ship one or three, so I keep three on hand so if someone wants to buy one, they are $40.00, and since I send PEGHEDS in a small priority box, the reamer fits nicely and adds no extra cost for shipping from here to the buyer. It is suggested even for those who know how to do it, to get a piece of wood of the same thickness, and the same hardness.....if it's the actual same wood even better. In the practice piece, when you get the right size hole, put a piece of masking tape across the back side of the reamer so you know that you are deep enough to make the right sized hole on the front side. It really isn't brain surgery, and the threads are very fine, so it isn't like one needs a pipe wrench to screw them in. Yellow wood workers glue is put on the back half of the threads so they hold the threads in place. if someone is wants to glue a bit farther than half way up the threads, that is okay as long as the glue doesn't move ahead in the hole and glue the thread spool to the main shaft which threads into the wood. If someone over bores, a piece of tissue paper or some other thin paper makes a good hole liner. Yes, there is a significant difference in the balance and weight between Gotoh tuners and PEGHEDS.. Check out what Tim Szerlong says at www.ukeeku.com. When he bought his PEGHEDS, I has no idea he was a writer. I was surprised at what he said. There are two different lengths of the main shaft. 19mm or 27.5. Measure the thickness of your headstock and you can see what will stick out the backside. They are both the same price.

Grizzly has a decent 5 degree bridge pin reamer that works for Pegheds for $19. Gotoh UPTs work fine if your headstock is thin enough but they are twice the weight of Pegheds.

How do you do that?

PEGHED shafts are a 30degree taper. How do you do it with a 5 degree tool? The price for the reamer is certainly better than what I have been paying. Thank you, if you will explain how you do it.

TheCraftedCow said:

PEGHED shafts are a 30degree taper. How do you do it with a 5 degree tool? The price for the reamer is certainly better than what I have been paying. Thank you, if you will explain how you do it.

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If you look at the reamer on the Grizzly website you can see that it doesn't look like a 5 degree bridge pin taper. I think there are different ways to describe taper. I don't think your reamers are 30 degrees but rather a 1:30 taper which is one unit of radius for every 30 units of length. Before I installed my first Peghed I decided to see if my Grizzly reamer that I use for installing guitar tuning machines would work rather than buy a new reamer. I tried it in some scrap wood. After I screwed in a Peghed and unscrewed it I could see that it made threads the whole length of the tapered hole. So I've used it on the Pegheds ever since.