New geared tuners

Pete Howlett

Pete Howlett

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These arrived today:

Waverlytypeukuleletuners_zps73d4e3d7.jpg


They are well cool! :cool:

Didn't quite get my workshop dust off of them for the photo but these are killer 'Waverley' type without the price tag! The base plate is a substantial pressing and the gears are smooth. For the standard 3/8" -7/16" headstock. I'm selling 'em for £13.50 a set plus shipping. Perloid or ebony buttons add £4.00.
 
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And that's what geared tuning machines are s'posed to look like. None of that sealed gear sissy stuff. These are sharp. But I only have sopranos...otherwise...
 
Those look great Pete...But I'm after some "Pegheads" I have a feeling you may-be have some of these in Stock. :)
 
the devil is in the details with little metal machined bits...
 
If you look carefully they are quite different from Grovers - the baseplate is Waverly style and the buttons screw on and are therefor interchangeable. The baseplate is slightly thicker with clean bevels on the sides and heavy, bright nickle plating. Subtle I know but I've fitted enough Grovers to know the difference. Must be my photography... ;)
 
Because if I buy grovers I know what I'm going to get. They won't be amazing but they'll be pretty good for what they cost. If I buy cheap imports off ebay I know they'll be cheap but have some backlash and perhaps some cosmetic issues. If I buy waverleys I know they'll be expensive and for the price I get very high quality machines.

With yours, I don't know where they were made or who they were made by. I don't know what level of quality control they use. I've got one photo, of one set to go by..........
 
Pete Howlett said:
these are killer 'Waverley' type without the price tag!
Click to expand...

They look to be near exact clones of the Waverly's. Waverly's are expensive because they're precision made in the USA, paying their workers a decent wage, and have spent a lot of money on R&D to get them just right. The least this manufacturer could've done is make them look slightly different, or put some original thought or ingenuity into them, instead of copying someone else's hard work and undercutting their product.

I'm glad you're happy with them Pete, and I'm not knocking their quality... they look really nice, and if they meet your requirements and are good enough for your ukes, that says a lot about them. It just bums me out that they're essentially counterfeits of a high-end tuner like the Waverly. Pete, as a boutique luthier whose instruments are a product of years of R&D and T&E (trial & error!), and whose aesthetics are very unique, I imagine you'd feel the same way if someone else started copying your work on a larger scale and selling them at a lower cost.
 
There are numerous tuners that look very similar. Those look as much like Waverly's, as Grovers, as Gotohs, as the cheap Chinese knock-offs.. oh wait.... When you can put a Waverly, or any other tuner in my hand, and I really cannot tell the difference, then it might be more of an issue of copying. Those do not look the same. Actuyally they look much more like the Gotohs. Look closely at the Waverly design, these are not.....

I do like that the flange opposite the knob side, ( of Pete's new tuners) has a 'captive' hold on the shaft, and not just a hook shaped piece of metal holding the shaft down. These look like thay may be decent. IMO, the non captive style flanged tuners are not what I will ever use on anything I own or build.
 
again, the devil is in the details... details, details.... tiny details that might not be apparant until you understand why.. that's what separates the good stuff from the chaff
 
They look a lot like these: http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-Tuning-Pe...ss-/380520886339?ssPageName=ADME:L:OC:US:3160

I got one set in to check them out, and ordered an additional 10 sets. (They have jacked the price up since I ordered - I paid $7.99 per set.) In my judgement they are equal in quality to the Grovers I've been getting from StewMac. The Grovers end up costing me close to sixteen bucks a set when shipping and tax are added in...
 
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