Friction Tuners

Katz-in-Boots

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 31, 2012
Messages
337
Reaction score
1
Location
Under Down Under
Some of the higher end ukes seem to have friction tuners. Am I right in thinking that if the picture shows the peg heads as projecting straight back from the headstock they are friction tuners, and all gear tuners stick out to the side?

I hated friction tuners on violins & cellos, could never get exactly in tune and very difficult to turn - then they just let go with a ping. Are ukulele friction tunerseasy to use?
 
Friction tuners are not like the old wooden pegs. They are not geared, but they have a "clutch" usually consisting of a plastic disk between two pieces of metal - and you can adjust the tension by tigthening the screw in the end (the one that holds the knob on).

That said, not all tuners that stick straight out the back are friction tuners. There are at least two types of tuners that use planetary gearing so they stick straight out the back. One kind (Peghed) is designed to look like the old wooden pegs but they are really metal and plastic and, as mentioned, have the planetary gears. The other kind are the planetary tuners from Goto - they look like "modern" friction tuners but actually have internal planetary gearing.

Personally, I like the light weight and fast tuning of friction tuners on my sopranos, and I don't care for the looks of the pegheds - but I may have to give those new ones a try one day.

John
 
Good one John...I took the old pegs off my fiddle years ago and put pegheads (friction tuners) on it...loved em. It stayed tuned for the first time ever. Ha, I just remembered this old hillbilly in Tennessee who put geared metal tuners on his cheap fiddle. They were ugly as hell but they worked! I think my next uke will have friction tuners...they look so cool...makes a uke look like a symphony instrument!
 
I for one like quality manufactured friction tuners. They look great, no 'ears.' Tuning is absolutely no problem for me.
 
Ha, I just remembered this old hillbilly in Tennessee who put geared metal tuners on his cheap fiddle. They were ugly as hell but they worked!

I've seen cellos with geared tuners, considered it myself until I spoke to someone who had them. He said that because the pegs couldn't slip when weather got cold, his strings were always breaking. Don't know if strings breaking due to cold snaps is an issue with ukes.
 
The new ones from Gotoh look great. Here is a link.

I'm just waiting on someone to tell me if I have to have my headstock drilled out or not before I buy. I don't care for the look of pegheds either.
 
I love friction tuners. In fact hate to see sopranos with gears. Look all wrong.

Many people dislike them, but I put that down to them having had experience of cheap models. Many cheap frictions are awful, sticky, jerky. But put a decent set on (and I'm talking £40-50 or more a set) and its an eye opener. The friction tuners on my Koaloha are like butter.

This link may help to explain the difference. High end frictions have many more parts!
http://www.gotaukulele.com/2012/03/dont-be-afraid-of-friction-tuners.html
 
I don't care for the look of pegheds either.

Agreed. Things should look like what they are. They should not look like something else...there's enough of that in the world already. Wooden pegs should look like wooden pegs, geared tuners should be open so that you can see the cool mechanism, frictions should look like friction tuners, and planetary tuners should look like...er...friction tuners. Ahem.
 
Am I right in thinking that if the picture shows the peg heads as projecting straight back from the headstock they are friction tuners, and all gear tuners stick out to the side?
Most of the time yes, but there's at least one exception: the Flea/Fluke.

I'd rather say when the tuning knob is in line with the hole in the tuning peg you have a geared tuner.
 
Love friction tuners. But I could see using the new gotoh geared "friction tune look" on tenors; would give it a great look and be easier to tune at the higher tension. Also with vintage baris, if the originals have gone south.
 
Love friction tuners. But I could see using the new gotoh geared "friction tune look" on tenors; would give it a great look and be easier to tune at the higher tension. Also with vintage baris, if the originals have gone south.
////////////

1+
 
Top Bottom