I took a hammer to my KoAloha concert - Yup, that's right.

My KoAloha concert has had a buzz on the open E string for some time. After much playing around with it, I came to the conclusion that it was probably the older-style Schaller tuner that was the culprit.

I called KoAloha, and described the problem. Can I just say how impressed I am with them and their customer service? They did some troubleshooting with me and offered me the option to send the uke back to them for the repair. After expressing some dismay about being without my uke for any period of time, they agreed to ship me the new style tuners they use (I think they may be grovers).

When I opened the package and took out the tuners, I realized that it was not as simple as remove and drop in. The Schaller pegs had some type of bushing that was wedged into the wooden holes. They were stuck in there good and the only way, I could get them out was to hammer them out.

Scared the beezwax out of me. Each hole probably required 45-50 taps. Very stressful 45 minutes, let me tell you. Well, the new pegs are in, and all seems well with the world.

On a final note, let me say that I found it "cute" that the pegs came in a mailer with a mix of stamps (some Christmas) in different denominations. It's a reminder that KoAloha is a family small business and not too corporate.

Happy uke-ing!

I love what I hear about KoAloha. Thanks for sharing your kudo's about them.

Happy to hear you had a great experience!

hammering out the rings can cause the finish to crack out the front side I suggest getting a long skinney screwdriver and rocking around in circles work them out....100% safer method than the tap and hammer

I did try the screwdriver method, but those buggers were stuck in there really good.

I usually would defer to musicguymic, but in this case, I couldn't get it to work that way. No doubt due to my poor technique.

Like I said though, it scared the crap out of me the entire time.

On a totally different note, it was good talking to you today, Michael, and i'm really looking forward to the tenor uke.

Best,
Rich

Glad it worked out. When I read the first few sentences, I thought it would end in a story of frustration and a hammer.

I replaced some Tuners on my concert and Soprano KoAlohas, I tried MGM's suggestion, but got frustrated. So I gently tapped them out, with a small hammer. It took awhile but I got them all out without a screwup............