Until today I've been dead set against friction tuners. The only ones I had ever used were on my custom soprano. I found them to be infuriatingly difficult to use, and swore I would never buy another uke that had them.
While at UWC2010 I had several other folks play this uke. While he was trying it out, I mentioned to UKISOCIETY that I was having big problems learning to use friction tuners. He looked at them and immediately recognized them as being of inferior quality. Apparently this particular style has been known to be awful.
Recently I read good things in the UU Luthier's Lounge forum about the friction tuners sold on eBay by "taisamlu", a seller from Taiwan. I found his auctions, bid on a set of four tuners, and won the auction. The total cost to me, including shipping from Taiwan, was only eleven dollars and change.
Today I got them installed on my soprano. What a difference! Now I understand what other people have been saying all along....friction tuners aren't bad, they're just different. I now have no trouble at all working with my friction tuners.
If you are like I was, and hate friction tuners, maybe a higher quality tuner will solve your problems, too. I highly recommend the friction tuners sold by taisamlu. The luthier who installed mine (for $10!) even commented about the quality and the engineering of them.
Hate friction tuners? Try a better set!
While at UWC2010 I had several other folks play this uke. While he was trying it out, I mentioned to UKISOCIETY that I was having big problems learning to use friction tuners. He looked at them and immediately recognized them as being of inferior quality. Apparently this particular style has been known to be awful.
Recently I read good things in the UU Luthier's Lounge forum about the friction tuners sold on eBay by "taisamlu", a seller from Taiwan. I found his auctions, bid on a set of four tuners, and won the auction. The total cost to me, including shipping from Taiwan, was only eleven dollars and change.
Today I got them installed on my soprano. What a difference! Now I understand what other people have been saying all along....friction tuners aren't bad, they're just different. I now have no trouble at all working with my friction tuners.
If you are like I was, and hate friction tuners, maybe a higher quality tuner will solve your problems, too. I highly recommend the friction tuners sold by taisamlu. The luthier who installed mine (for $10!) even commented about the quality and the engineering of them.
Hate friction tuners? Try a better set!
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