Finally got my Gotoh UPTs installed

Del1015

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Finally got a set of Gotohs installed on my Pono MGS. I’m pretty stoked about them. If you’re trying to decide on replacing your friction pegs with Gotoh UPTs, just do it. You’ll be happy you did.

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Looks great. I’ve read they are awesome. I want to put set on one of my Pono tenors but don’t want the holes left by geared tuners showing. That leaves me looking at a tenor that either has friction tunes, comes with UPTs a tenor like KoAloha where geared tuners will pop out not leaving any anchor holes. It will happen , just a matter of time and Uke I like! (g)
 
Looks great. I’ve read they are awesome. I want to put set on one of my Pono tenors but don’t want the holes left by geared tuners showing. That leaves me looking at a tenor that either has friction tunes, comes with UPTs a tenor like KoAloha where geared tuners will pop out not leaving any anchor holes. It will happen , just a matter of time and Uke I like! (g)

I’ve seens some folks do it and fill in the holes. It didn’t look bad at all. But yes, they’re awesome and work really smoothly. I’m growing a preference for the streamlined look of rear facing tuners.
 
Finally got a set of Gotohs installed on my Pono MGS. I’m pretty stoked about them. If you’re trying to decide on replacing your friction pegs with Gotoh UPTs, just do it. You’ll be happy you did.

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Where did you get them? I ordered my first set from Japan. They cost $86 and took two months, but at least I could get exactly what I wanted. Now I order them from HMS ($59 plus shipping), and usually the length and button color are the only essentials. With some many size and color combinations available, they can't stock multiples of everything. I have three more sets to install.

I much prefer Gotohs to PegHeds. The Gotohs look good and don't stick out so far.

Did you use a reamer or drill bit? I've used both, but my reamer cost about $8.00 from Amazon, rather than $63 from StewMac.

The only downside to installing PedHeds or Gotohs is if the uke had geared tuners when new. Then you have those eight tiny holes in the back of the headstock. I had that situation with one uke, but isn't a "looker," so it didn't matter. I'd never do the conversion on a very good ukulele.

I'm surprised someone hasn't started mass producing geared tuners like Gotohs so they could be used as standard equipment. Churning out large numbers of them would reduce the cost considerably.
 
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Looks great. I’ve read they are awesome. I want to put set on one of my Pono tenors but don’t want the holes left by geared tuners showing. That leaves me looking at a tenor that either has friction tunes, comes with UPTs a tenor like KoAloha where geared tuners will pop out not leaving any anchor holes. It will happen , just a matter of time and Uke I like! (g)

I put some upt Gotoh tuners on a Martin SO and just filled the holes - not a perfect result but I am pleased. I keep a bag of mahogany dust to use with superglue. The dust came from reaming out the holes on the neck. These tuners are amazing. I have recently fitted these to my Opio longneck soprano - excellent.
 
I keep a bag of mahogany dust to use with superglue. The dust came from reaming out the holes on the neck. These tuners are amazing. I have recently fitted these to my Opio longneck soprano - excellent.

Yeah, that sawdust is great for many things. I got a lot from cutting mahogany necks.
 
Where did you get them? I ordered my first set from Japan. They cost $86 and took two months, but at least I could get exactly what I wanted. Now I order them from HMS ($59 plus shipping), and usually the length and button color are the only essentials. With some many size and color combinations available, they can't stock multiples of everything. I have three more sets to install.

I much prefer Gotohs to PegHeds. The Gotohs look good and don't stick out so far.

Did you use a reamer or drill bit? I've used both, but my reamer cost about $8.00 from Amazon, rather than $63 from StewMac.

The only downside to installing PedHeds or Gotohs is if the uke had geared tuners when new. Then you have those eight tiny holes in the back of the headstock. I had that situation with one uke, but isn't a "looker," so it didn't matter. I'd never do the conversion on a very good ukulele.

I'm surprised someone hasn't started mass producing geared tuners like Gotohs so they could be used as standard equipment. Churning out large numbers of them would reduce the cost considerably.

I got mine from Reverb. I think the particular seller was called Lucy’s Ukuleles. It cost $69 and took about 4 days to get from Oregon to Virginia. I ended up having my local Luthier install them for $75 which I figured would be around the price to buy a reamer plus shipping. I was going back and forth between these Gotohs and the Pegheads. Glad I chose these. They work so well and add to the looks of my Pono.
 
I put some upt Gotoh tuners on a Martin SO and just filled the holes - not a perfect result but I am pleased. I keep a bag of mahogany dust to use with superglue. The dust came from reaming out the holes on the neck. These tuners are amazing. I have recently fitted these to my Opio longneck soprano - excellent.

What a great ideas .....
 
I have Pegheads on my concert uke, and Gotohs on my banjouke. The Pegheads look better, but the Gotohs are MUCH nicer to tune with.
 
I have Pegheads on my concert uke, and Gotohs on my banjouke. The Pegheads look better, but the Gotohs are MUCH nicer to tune with.

Are the Pegheads not as smooth? Or is it something else. I think they looks great on the Martin IZ tenor and Mya Moe ukes but don’t have any experience using them as of yet.
 
I ordered some UPTLs to put on a ukulele with a really thick headstock. They arrived today, and I jumped right into the project, and after reaming out the first hole to fit the UPT...the UPTLs are not long enough.

Please note...I was going slow. I was checking the diameter of the hole for the UPT. Everything was good. Except that UPTLs allow for a maximum of 13mm. I was hoping I could get by. Nope.

Imagine me sitting at the table...looking at the problem...and now not being able to go back. I contacted the company that sold the UPTs just to make sure they were the L’s (They were...was able to see a diagram...the L’s have a groove in the nut and the shaft that the regular sizes do not.).

So, I did what anyone would do...I went to my next ukulele that I wanted to install UPTs on...my Martin S1...and that went easy. It’s funny how things work when the equipment fits the installation. I think you can use regular UPT on Martins...but the L’s work, too. I have a wood reamer from eBay (worked great) and a small hobby hand drill that I used for the spikes.

What is so fascinating about the UPTs is that you only have to unscrew the front nut from the body and everything else can stay attached. That’s pretty cool, and makes swapping tuners super easy.

What to do about the ukulele with the thick headstock? 15.47mm? I ordered some very cheap planetary banjo tuners from Amazon which will be here Monday. I do not expect them to be better than the Gotoh tuners...but I do expect them to be 1000% better than the friction tuners on this ukulele...and I can’t go backwards anyway.

Hopefully the cheap planetary banjo tuners will do the trick and I can move on to the next project.

Side question: anyone know if you can buy Martin saddles and nuts from the company or a dealer? I’d like to get a black nut and saddle for my S1 (the centennial had these) as the tuners on my S1 are now all black.
 
I ordered some UPTLs to put on a ukulele with a really thick headstock. They arrived today, and I jumped right into the project, and after reaming out the first hole to fit the UPT...the UPTLs are not long enough.

My sympathies. I've installed sever sets of Gotohs, and I've always used the Long. So far, they have been just long enough. I think Gotoh should re-think their sizing. Making that shaft a couple of mm longer is no big deal.
 

I was quite pleased to find these, even with the mediocre (at best) reviews.

https://www.amazon.com/BQLZR-Chrome...pID=51XoQoQwtxL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

I think it is very, very important to note that these are for a Banjo application...not a ukulele. But this headstock is so thick that this might work. Do not order these BQLZR planetary tuners for your ukulele (Jerry...I don’t think you would do this...just making a public service announcement). I cannot recess the tuners, unfortunately.

Interesting that you are installing long on everything. That’s good to know, and may change my process of ordering in the future.

I now have Gotoh UPTs on two ukuleles...and I can only say positive things about them. I’ll probably put them on all of my “good” ukuleles...but the majority of my collection is worth less than the UPTs themselves. The only other ukulele I immediately want to tackle is my Opio Concert, which comes with friction tuners. The KoAloha friction tuners are just fine...but the Gotohs are better.
 
I was quite pleased to find these, even with the mediocre (at best) reviews.

https://www.amazon.com/BQLZR-Chrome...pID=51XoQoQwtxL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch...

That's a great find Chris!

Rondo has a set for almost the same price, with a fancy button, that I've been contemplating installing on my steel-string tenor guitar (but only the shaft diameter is listed and not the length):

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http://www.rondomusic.com/Banjo_Tuners_Planetary_Gear.html

Problem is they are currently out of stock and Rondo wants $12 for shipping on top of that and those you got from Amazon are Prime eligible.

Please update us when you install them. If they pass muster, I might get these from Amazon instead.
 
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