Best aftermarket friction tuners?

Okay, lets have some opinions. Which are the best friction tuners and where can I get them? The tuners on this Kiwaya are driving me nuts. I love the uke but the tuners are the worst I've seen - even the tuners on my Kala pocket uke are miles better than the junk on this KSL-2.

I thought maybe these would "wear in" and be a little smoother but it's been just the opposite - they've taken a set so they won't hold at the in-tune pitch but are still stiff and grainy elsewhere. I can get them to work better for a while by completely slacking the tuning by close to a full turn of the knob then bringing them back up to pitch but a few days later the "set" is back. It's not a matter of tightening the tension screw because the tuners are already "tight" everywhere except the area immediately around the in-tune position.

BTW, I am not looking for geared tuners to replace them. Just some good friction tuners of a similar quality to those on my KoAloha, or even the humble Kala.

I traded out some vintage tuners on my Martin and Gibson with Ping (available at Elderly.) I selected Ping because they are narrow enough to fit the hole in these old ukes without altering the uke, so I could change them back again if I wanted.

I also just took off the geared tuners and put Ping on a Dolphin I have:

I've been very pleased with these tuners. There are certainly more expensive ones out there, but Ping has me as a satisfied customer!

Without a doubt, Pegheads work the best in my experience, but are expensive. Flea Market Music sells them. Although, the Koaloha friction tuners are fantastic, as well.

I replaced the geared tuners on a Kala concert travel uke w/a set of friction tuners that Mike sells at Mainland ukes. I've since used Pings on a vintage no-name 30's/40's uke and they worked as Pdxuke mentions, but the Ping's stick up a bit more than the originals did. I've done a swap w/some Grover 3B's. AND, I've used a set of the ones that Taimslu sells on Ebay like these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Gold-Machine-heads-Ukulele-button-4-pieces-229G-P2W-/160552812634

Ken Timms (AKA Timbuck on UU) uses these on his Martin-style ukes he builds & sells, so I would bet that they are pretty good or he wouldn't use them.

And of course, there are Pegheds. I have a set of those being put on a Gstring I bought off of Nuprin here on UU. He had put geared tuners on because he preferred them (at the time) to friction tuners. But, ask Nuprin about Pegheds - he's getting them on all his newer ukes now - best of both worlds.

Well the BEST friction tuners I have are on my Kamaka, but they don't sell them after market. :-(

Mainland sell these:

http://shop.mainlandukuleles.com/product.sc?productId=18&categoryId=5

I use them, and they appear to be the same as those on my KoAloha, except for the tuning knobs. They work fine.

Thanks for responses, keep 'em coming.

I've done a little more research and found a site that indicates that the Kiwaya "eco" series are delivered with Gotoh standard uke tuners, while the solid-wood lines are equipped with Gotoh Deluxe tuners. Comparing the tuners on my uke to the pictures of Gotoh tuners at Elderly seems to confirm that.

I'm considering going with Gotoh Deluxe as I can be reasonably sure the shafts will be the same size.

Does anyone know if the various brands all have the same shaft diameters? I was hoping information on shaft diameters would be included in the descriptions at elderly but so far no luck on that score. Will do more googling, I guess.

How heavy are the peghead tuners compared to friction tuners?

John

OldePhart said:

Thanks for responses, keep 'em coming.

I've done a little more research and found a site that indicates that the Kiwaya "eco" series are delivered with Gotoh standard uke tuners, while the solid-wood lines are equipped with Gotoh Deluxe tuners. Comparing the tuners on my uke to the pictures of Gotoh tuners at Elderly seems to confirm that.

I'm considering going with Gotoh Deluxe as I can be reasonably sure the shafts will be the same size.

Does anyone know if the various brands all have the same shaft diameters? I was hoping information on shaft diameters would be included in the descriptions at elderly but so far no luck on that score. Will do more googling, I guess.

How heavy are the peghead tuners compared to friction tuners?

John

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I think Ping have thinner shaft, which is why they fit many vintage ukes.

The GoToh delux sounds like a good bet; on a uke of that quality it makes sense.

Pegheds aren't friction tuners...

I think Gotoh deluxe are the best, and Hana Lima is a good source: http://www.hanalimastore.com/servlet/the-Ukulele-Tuners/Categories

Can you tell us more about what's bothering you about the pegs that are on there now?

Pegheds are super light. They're awesome.

Shoot MGM an email and ask if he has any KoAloha friction pegs in stock. He usually sells them for about twenty bucks a set, and they're some of the best on the market.

I earlier mentioned those at Mainland, because they appear identical to those on my KoAloha and cost $20. They feel the same in use, as well.

Trivia: I put some Grover 3w's on my KoAloha to replace the OEMs. It's a soprano, and the balance is now much better. The whole kit weighs 11 oz. Go figure...

WestPhillyUke said:

Pegheds aren't friction tuners...

I think Gotoh deluxe are the best, and Hana Lima is a good source: http://www.hanalimastore.com/servlet/the-Ukulele-Tuners/Categories

Can you tell us more about what's bothering you about the pegs that are on there now?

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I know the Pegheads are planetary gear tuners - I was just wondering how heavy they are because my primary objection to geared tuners on small ukes is the weight. ALthough, honestely, I think the pegheads are ugly, anyway - I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I can understand wanting to keep vintage appearance on an old uke.

When I got the uke these tuners were very gritty feeling. In fact, when I changed strings rotating them quickly with no tension to "wind up" the strings they actually made grinding noises. The friction tuners on my KoAloha and Kala are smooth as butter. These tuners have always been very "finicky" to get the string right on pitch. Again, the KoAloha and Kala are no problem. This one as you apply smooth, even pressure the tuning will suddenly jump from twenty cents flat to twenty cents sharp. I was hoping the tuners would "wear in" and become smoother, but instead they've actually gotten worse. They now take a "set" around the position where the string is in tune. By that, I mean that at that rotary position the tuner will not hold so the string goes flat. Go a little flatter, or a little sharper and it will hold pitch. I've found that I can undo the "set" for a while by tuning down almost a full turn of the tuner, then bring it back up to pitch. This seems to "erase" the "set" the tuner took and it will then work much better around the correct pitch for a few days until it takes a "set" again. It seems like it's taking a "set" much faster as time goes on.

It's not a matter of adjusting the tension. I'm familiar with how friction tuners work and I've got these set, if anything, a little bit tight. I guess the best way I can describe the "set" I was talking about above is that the tension is "too light" a few degrees to either side of in tune even while it is "too tight" when you rotate it out of that zone. Loosen a full turn then tune back up and that situation goes away for a few days.

I've had no such problems with my KoAloha, it has always tuned smooth as butter right to the correct pitch. Ditto for my pocket uke, although it's a bit touchier due to the very short scale.

haole said:

Shoot MGM an email and ask if he has any KoAloha friction pegs in stock. He usually sells them for about twenty bucks a set, and they're some of the best on the market.

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Cool! I didn't know you could get the KoAloha pegs aftermarket. Okay, that dilemma is solved! Thanks

One more thing, as a matter of reference: I have spent a great deal of time with a concert size Collings with pegheads: they are light. Although I agree--I don't much care for the looks. BUT I like them better than the look of geared tuners!

Funny, I never had a problem with the same tuners on my KS1 -- in fact, they worked the best of any friction tuners I've used, go figure.

Maybe you just got some duds. Also, did you you try taking them apart to see if there was anything obviously wrong? I recently had some trouble with a tuner on another uke slipping. Took it apart and found that the hole was a tad too wide and as a result the tuner wasn't properly seated. Stuffed a little paper in to make up the difference, and it's worked as a temporary fix so far.

I've got a photo of some of the KoAlohas retrofitted on the UK Kala Sop Travel Uke in the marketplace. They are nice and compact and seem to work very well once they are tight.

The Gotoh deluxe are the best friction tuners I've yet used, but Schaller does sell their friction tuners not just to Kamaka...

I don't care for Schaller friction tuners in the least little bit, but you can get 'em.

http://www.millbrook.fi/tuotteet.php?tuotekoodi=620&hakustr=schaller ukulele#a_-2531143

http://www.thomann.de/fi/schaller_uca_ukulele_mechanik.htm

ukeatan said:

Funny, I never had a problem with the same tuners on my KS1 -- in fact, they worked the best of any friction tuners I've used, go figure.

Maybe you just got some duds. Also, did you you try taking them apart to see if there was anything obviously wrong? I recently had some trouble with a tuner on another uke slipping. Took it apart and found that the hole was a tad too wide and as a result the tuner wasn't properly seated. Stuffed a little paper in to make up the difference, and it's worked as a temporary fix so far.

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It could be duds. Although three of the four are misbehaving and two of them are really bad. I could see one tuner in a set being messed up maybe, but three of the four seems strange. Only the G works fairly well. I'd be more inclined to think maybe during the (uke) manufacturing process they got messed up. They feel gritty like there is sand in them...so maybe there is.

I think I'm just going to order some of the KoAlohas from MGM as was suggested above. Those I know I like!

Plainsong said:

The Gotoh deluxe are the best friction tuners I've yet used, but Schaller does sell their friction tuners not just to Kamaka...

I don't care for Schaller friction tuners in the least little bit, but you can get 'em.

http://www.millbrook.fi/tuotteet.php?tuotekoodi=620&hakustr=schaller ukulele#a_-2531143

http://www.thomann.de/fi/schaller_uca_ukulele_mechanik.htm

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Thanks for the info on Schaller!