Changed Up My Friction Tuners

I really like wooden buttons but had a hard time finding some except for the Waverly koa open gear machines. Came across this "taisamlu" seller on ebay from Taiwan selling ALL sorts of tuners with different buttons. So I thought I'd check em out at $30 bucks a set. Picked up koa and cocobolo tuners with chrome machines ...

I wasn't really into the plastic buttons. Here were the tuners I used to have on the concert Nice Ukulele (Ed Bacani) ...



Put the koa ones on ...



The plastic white buttons looked kinda clowney on the Ohana soprano cedar top ...



Much better with the cocobolos ...



They seem like solid tuners. Bushing had a little bit of slack on the Bacani ukulele. Maybe 3 layers of masking tape and it was snug. Holes were too small on the Ohana soprano. Had to drill out 5/16's I think it was. Go slow, I chipped a bit of the gloss. Really gotta tighten down the E and A strings especially. So far holding their tune pretty good. If they manage to last, that's a pretty good value.

Oh and the money shot lol

Thanks for posting this. I've considered changing out tuners because of truly baffling button choices by some makers but haven't really looked into it. These look great!

Nix

Hello the.ronin,
Nice clear pictures, I really like what you have done.
1931jim

Thanks guys. I was thinking of going alternative woods so G, C, E, A would have koa, cocobolo, cocobolo, koa.

Nice work, looks fantastic!

I asked taisamlu the Ebay seller who makes these. He replied back that this company in China called Der Jung makes them.

So far, I’m still pleased with these tuners. They are keeping their tune relatively well. I went ahead and bought some classical guitar tuners as well with zebra wood buttons and a black shaft. Can’t wait.

As someone who's been blogging recently about friction pegs, these look great!

Those look nice, but if you don't plan on keeping those ugly old things that were on the Bacani I'll be happy to take them off your hands...

John

Quick update - tuners are holding up real nice. They are holding their tune within an acceptable range (using broken in strings). And this is against a TurboTuner ST-122a that's +/-0.02 cent accurate! Will keep an eye to see if they start losing their friction prematurely.

bazmaz said:

As someone who's been blogging recently about friction pegs, these look great!

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Really? I'd be very interested to check out that blog! The links in your signature don't appear to be for that.

OldePhart said:

Those look nice, but if you don't plan on keeping those ugly old things that were on the Bacani I'll be happy to take them off your hands...

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LOL, sorry John. She Who Must Be Obeyed has already earmarked them for ebay to fund (at least partially) my recent bout of GUAAS (guitar and ukulele accessories acquisition syndrome).

Speaking of which, I did come across another site that's got some really nice looking "Thomas Rubner" slotted tuning machines. All of my ukes are singles though.

the.ronin said:

Really? I'd be very interested to check out that blog! The links in your signature don't appear to be for that.

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Try the top one that says, "The Uke blog for beginners".