KoAlana Tuner Upgrade - Gotoh UPT JP2

Cooper Black · Oct 30, 2012

I love my Koalana Concert, but the stock friction tuners? Not so much love for those. I've read mention of the new Gotoh UPT geared tuners, but has anyone actually made this upgrade?

These are the specific tuners I'm looking at:

Also ran across this spec sheet, but I have not yet taken any measurements off the KoAlana to verify the Gotohs will actually fit.

Would really appreciate any insights other folks have regrading tuner upgrades to a KoAlana.

Thanks!

Nicko · Dec 14, 2012

Thinking of changing to Gotoh UPT on my Martin S1

Any thoughts on these tuners?

Thanks,
N

Plainsong · Dec 14, 2012

They're so new, I doubt anyone has much experience yet. I'll say gotoh in general is a great brand. Their friction tuners track like buttah and would be a great upgrade. These new geared tuners though... no idea.

ksiegel · Dec 15, 2012

One of my local musician friends replaced the friction tuners on his National uke with this GoTohs. As he stated, while on stage, he needs quick and responsive, doesn't really have the time to spend with the friction tuners when the rest of the band is already tuned up. He thought about PegHeds, but decided he could install the GoTohs himself, while he'd have to pay a luthier to install Pegheds.

He let me play the new. improved National.

Very sweet!

-Kurt

Nicko · Dec 15, 2012

ksiegel said:
As he stated, while on stage, he needs quick and responsive, doesn't really have the time to spend with the friction tuners when the rest of the band is already tuned up.

Reminds me of one of my favorites of the scores of banjo(ist) jokes from my old fiddling days:

Banjo players spend half their lives tuning...(wait for it)...and the other half playing out of tune.

consitter · Dec 15, 2012

ksiegel said:
One of my local musician friends replaced the friction tuners on his National uke with this GoTohs. As he stated, while on stage, he needs quick and responsive, doesn't really have the time to spend with the friction tuners when the rest of the band is already tuned up. He thought about PegHeds, but decided he could install the GoTohs himself, while he'd have to pay a luthier to install Pegheds.He let me play the new. improved National.

Very sweet!

-Kurt

This is why I would go with these tuners over pegheads in a heartbeat.

TheCraftedCow · Dec 16, 2012

Easier?

It doesn't take a luthier to install PEGHEDS, but it does take a 30:1 violin reamer. Within a couple of weeks there will be a chromed PEGHED with an ivoroid grip. It will be smaller and lighter than the Gotoh. I wonder about the size of the front bushing and what size hole does that take to install the Gotoh. I know the SGH318 takes a 3/8 for the front part. The new Gotoh looks quite similar to the early Waverly tuners on my Favilla tenor guitar.

The chart does not mention the diameter of the front bushing, but the body of the unit is 9.5mm that comes inside from the back. The flat washer is 12mm x 1mm thick. That means four 9.5mm holes. When the Gotohs came off of my Martin soprano, i needed to glue in a dowel rod and rebore it fo make the PEGHEDS fit. The weight of a set is one ounce. There was no mention on the chart of weight.

consitter · Dec 16, 2012

TheCraftedCow said:
It doesn't take a luthier to install PEGHEDS, but it does take a 30:1 violin reamer. Within a couple of weeks there will be a chromed PEGHED with an ivoroid grip. It will be smaller and lighter than the Gotoh. I wonder about the size of the front bushing and what size hole does that take to install the Gotoh. I know the SGH318 takes a 3/8 for the front part. The new Gotoh looks quite similar to the early Waverly tuners on my Favilla tenor guitar.

This is something I might be inclined to go with in the peghead line. It at least will look like a traditional tuner. It still scares me altering my uke to do so. I couldn't change back if I wanted. Well, I probably could, but it definitely would involve a luthier then, as I wouldn't trust myself to do the work.

AndrewKuker · Dec 16, 2012

I love these tuners! How often does something come along that makes all of it's predecessors irrelevant. To me that is what this does. Not talking about Peghed because that is a much more radical change in look and installation.
I'm talking about friction pegs. These are as light, as petite, and are just plain and simple better for tuning and staying tunes and not jumping quarter notes with a tiny nudge. However, you will need to ream a few swipes for KoAloha. So if you don't have a good reamer you might want to let someone help. Next year we will be offering them as an optional upgrade on the better instruments with frictions.

The pegheds look amzingly classy on some ukes but on others I am just so used to the look. Kamaka Koaloha etc..among ones I wouldn't personally put pegheds on. These are a beautiful evolution. I don't think we ahould even look back.This is a KoAlana tuner next to the new Gotoh-

consitter · Dec 16, 2012

AndrewKuker said:
I love these tuners! How often does something come along that makes all of it's predecessors irrelevant. To me that is what this does. Not talking about Peghed because that is a much more radical change in look and installation.
I'm talking about friction pegs. These are as light, as petite, and are just plain and simple better for tuning and staying tunes and not jumping quarter notes with a tiny nudge. However, you will need to ream a few swipes for KoAloha. So if you don't have a good reamer you might want to let someone help. Next year we will be offering them as an optional upgrade on the better instruments with frictions.

The pegheds look amzingly classy on some ukes but on others I am just so used to the look. Kamaka Koaloha etc..among ones I wouldn't personally put pegheds on. These are a beautiful evolution. I don't think we ahould even look back.This is a KoAlana tuner next to the new Gotoh-

Whoa! That is incredibly nice looking!!

Cooper Black · Dec 16, 2012

Nice photo Andrew!

I'm actually getting quite used to the Gotoh friction pegs on the KoAlana. But these tuners still cry out to me. I have 4:1 Waverly's on my banjo and appreciate what a good planetary gear can do to make tuning more speedy and pleasant.

I also think these would be a good candidate for my mountain dulcimer; it seems to like heavy gauge strings, so it also wants better tuning machines to control things at high tension.

Thanks for all the replies!

japarts · Dec 27, 2012

TheCraftedCow said:
There was no mention on the chart of weight.

There are 12 different buttons* so the weight varies but it's about 16 grams per piece, which makes a total of 64 grams or 2.3 ounces.

* Gotoh has added a few since these were first released.

KoAlana Tuner Upgrade - Gotoh UPT JP2

Cooper Black

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Nicko

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Plainsong

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ksiegel

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Nicko

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consitter

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TheCraftedCow

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consitter

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AndrewKuker

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consitter

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Cooper Black

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japarts

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