Vintage Uke and grumpy old tuners

Trader Todd

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I've got a white label Kamaka tenor and the tuners are a bit grumpy and moody. Once in tune they stay in tune, but it takes a bit of finesse to get them there. For instance when I try to get the E up to tune, I turn the peg and get it to pitch, when I take my fingers off the peg, it slips down a bit. So I have to tune a bit sharp and let it slip back to pitch.

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Any suggested maintenance or replacements?

I have a Silvertone Baritone that will stay in tune for awhile but then a couple of the strings will slip. I can tighten the screws on the tuners and that will help for a session or two, then they start to slip. Problem is I have to tighten the screws so tight that they are so tight it is hard to tune.

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Any suggestions on maintenance or replacement.

These are players not collectors so I'm not against just replacing them.
 
If you're not worried about keeping them mint why not replace the Kamaka tuners with some UPT tuners and the Harmony's with some Kluson style geared tuners.
 
With old friction tuners, sometimes putting talc (powder) in them will help them grip. I have also on a 100 year old banjo that I wanted to keep the original tuners, made some rawhide washers and added them, along with talc to help the old tired friction tuners to grip and hold tune.
 
Todd,
I got tired of dealing with the crappy friction tuners on my Silvertone. I ended up putting some open-geared Grover butterbean guitar tuners on my baritone.
Another option would be to upgrade to the Gotoh UPT tuners. Those are some amazing tuners and the ratio means you can dial "in tune" correctly without much effort.

Perhaps mix it up. Put the UPT's on the Kamaka and open geared on the Sivertone. Honestly, I like the look of the butterbean style tuners with the Silvertone headstock.

If you love these ukes then start to bling them out to make them your own. And this would be money well spent. I like to spend my time playing/practicing and NOT tuning.
 
Just a heads up. The Gotoh UPTs are great tuners but you will probably have to ream out the tuner holes a bit to install them on either of those instruments. It's easy to do but you'll need a reamer to do it. You can buy reamers online for under $15 that will do the job.
 
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