Changing tuners on a vintage instrument

EDW

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I often read posts about people changing out the tuners on vintage instruments. Certainly you need something that works. Old sticky tuners are one of those things that make people hate friction tuners.

There are lots of ways to go. One can try to rehab the old ones and lubricate them, add washers, etc, change to period era tuners or go with something modern.

Some value the playability aspect, while others seem to be concerned with devaluing the instrument or going with something that looks historically correct.

What thoughts do you have about those issues and concerns?
 
I've struggled with the same question. I have a 1933 Martin style 0, that plays and sounds wonderful, but it's not great looking and has the old friction tuners that work ok most of the time, but sometimes can be tricky to get to the correct tune. I've thought about both partially refinishing and changing the tuners, but after 4 years, it's still original and works.

The tuners were to where I tightened them up as much as possible and they wouldn't hold, so I trimmed just about 1/16" off of the screw and now they hold a lot better.
 
It's your uke, do what makes sense given its purpose for you. Personally, I would find a set of UPT tuners far more enticing than virtually any original ones, but I would be buying it to play. If you're buying it to resell, possibly to a collector, I don't know.
 
I'd fit new tuners to make it usable. I'd go for friction tuners (unless you're playing it professionally on stage, in which case the geared planetaries might be better). Except for professional use, I wouldn't fit planetaries. I certainly wouldn't fit "eared" geared tuners. I wouldn't refinish if the uke just looked old and used, but might if the finish was actually falling off in patches.

Reasons:

1. Fitting new friction tuners requires, at most, drilling out the holes a fraction larger. A later owner can plug and redrilll them for the originals, and that will be invisible. Good frictions work perfectly well to tune the uke.

2. Planetaries will want an extra small hole on the back of the headstock for a pin, and that's not fixable invisibly, plus they are heavier (as a player, the feel is important to me).

3. Eared tuners add more holes to the peghead, and change the look and balance of the instrument. They look wrong, wrong, wrong on a vintage Martin!

4. I'd keep the original tuners, in case a later owner wants to return it to originality. BTW, was it originally fitted with metal tuners? Some had wooden pegs - if so, its originality is changed anyway, a slightly bigger hole is neither here nor there.

5. Refinishing definitely changes the instrument. It's really hard to do without looking bad, unless you have a lot of experience - a spray can of lacquer applied by an amateur will look absolutely awful, guaranteed. Plus anything but the thinnest refinish is likely to choke the volume and sound. So long as the uke just looks well-used, I'd be more than happy with that.

For a collector it's simple - the more original the better. But if you're contemplating a refinish, this is probably not a collector uke (scratches etc are not original!).
 
I try to keep my Martins looking original I have installed pegheads where appropriate as they look like wooden pegs and the wooden pegs can be reinstalled. I've also found that wooden friction tuners are not that hard to use if set up properly.
 
I often read posts about people changing out the tuners on vintage instruments. Certainly you need something that works. Old sticky tuners are one of those things that make people hate friction tuners.

There are lots of ways to go. One can try to rehab the old ones and lubricate them, add washers, etc, change to period era tuners or go with something modern.

Some value the playability aspect, while others seem to be concerned with devaluing the instrument or going with something that looks historically correct.

What thoughts do you have about those issues and concerns?

Very often, the reason for the slipping is worn out washers. Replace them, and you're back to like-new condition. The owner has to decide if he has an investment that he plans to cash in on someday, or if he has a nice old uke that he likes to play.

http://www.ukulelemag.com/stories/w...251577345&mc_cid=e85732e2d2&mc_eid=7aa2cb3a84
 
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