A new set of tuners for my Bambookulele.

BigJackBrass

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As something of a test run for doing the same to my Mele Concert uke I switched the geared guitar-style tuners on my tenor Moselele Bambookulele for a set of friction pegs bought from andybanjo. These seem to be similar or identical to the Leader tuning pegs sold by Eagle Music, although a little cheaper.

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Quality looks pretty decent and they turn very smoothly. Ordinarily I'm not particularly a fan of gold, but these suit the colours of the Bambookulele rather well. They may be a little heavy for the Mele, though, weighing in at about 16g per peg. All in all, a very successful exercise.
 
How is that tenor Bambookulele? I've got a concert Bambookulele I use for busking-- loud but not loud enough.
 
Surprisingly pleasant tone and loud enough for my purposes (I bought it to give playing tenor a try, as I mainly play soprano), but it's not especially loud. A couple of my sopranos can outdo it for sheer volume.
 
What wood is your Mele Concert? I love my Mango one.
 
What wood is your Mele Concert? I love my Mango one.

Mahogany. It was a very unexpected and generous gift from an old friend; and to be honest I think I would have passed it by in the shop simply because it wasn't a soprano and had geared tuners (I've softened my pro-soprano stance a little, but still dislike guitar-style tuners). I've grown to really like it though.

It helps that it's quite a small concert, and the rather imperfect level of finish is not at all reflected in the quality of tone. It's one of those instruments I can easily find myself abstractly plucking at simply to hear it. Unfortunately it seems to have developed a buzz on the C string, which I haven't pinned down yet. Current suspect is the string rattling in the nut, so I'll be trying different strings. Incidentally, the Mele now sports a set of Gotoh UPTs (decided to indulge rather than use friction pegs) and they are quite superb.
 
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