Plastic Tuners?

Moore Bettah Ukuleles

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I like Graph Tech. I use their Tusq material for all of my nuts and saddles. Today I got an email from them announcing a new tuner they plan to debut at NAMM 2019.
You decide for yourself. I'll probably take a pass though. But at least they are giving ukulele some attention.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuyuZ1the_4&feature=youtu.be[/VIDEO]
 
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I saw this early today and got excited for 5 seconds , then realised they are not metal. nope.
 
Totally agree with the stated plastic problem. I still prefer the look and quite satisfied with the 4-1 ratio of Pegheads. I do believe they are made of metal.
 
Well, at least the price is right. Only a buck a piece if someone wants to split an order of 10,000! ;)
Honestly, if these were made of metal they could be onto something.
 

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It will be interested to see the final product and see how well they function and how durable they will be.
 
They’re not plastic in the Bic pen or plastic bottle sense.

Patent pending, super low wear, no backlash. . . Smooth, almost pneumatic feel.

There will be a day for cool metal ones, at a higher cost. . . Performance, feel, and tuning dynamics same.
 
Don’t PEGHED tuners have plastic bits? At least the buttons are plastic.

Engineered correctly polymers can work well. I had a digital flip clock with cheap plastic gears from the 70s that ran for 35 years 24/7

If these are as great & low cost as advertised, a great marketing tool would be to give every luthier a free sample set to try.
 
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Don’t PEGHED tuners have plastic bits? At least the buttons are plastic.

Engineered correctly polymers can work well. I had a digital flip clock with cheap plastic gears from the 70s that ran for 35 years 24/7

If these are as great & low cost as advertised, a great marketing tool would be to give every luthier a free sample set to try.

Yes there is a lot of plastic in our lives including lots of strings attached to darn near everything. I pick up tiny bits and bigger plastic stuff at the beach every time I'm out there, including the parking lot.
It never really goes away, just gets smaller.
 
I saw this early today and got excited for 5 seconds , then realised they are not metal. nope.

I’m not sure that I understand what your objection really is here.

Perhaps you believe that plastic will not be strong or durable enough for the job, if so then I share that concern but some plastics are relatively strong so maybe that issue has been properly addressed by the maker. Alternatively yet another item made of plastic is perhaps not ideal from an ecological perspective, my take on that is that so many things already are (made of plastic) that there’s plenty of scope for finding discarded plastic and recycling it - by adding found items it’s possible to recycle more plastic than you purchase. You might also like to consider that Uke nuts and saddles are often plastic too but could be bone or wood instead. Edit. Conventional friction type tuners also appear, to me, to have a lot of plastic used in them.

If the item were available to me at a reasonable price then I think that I’d consider buying it; what’s really or more important about items is how we treat them at the end of their life. I’ve collected plenty of littered items and recycled them, so buying something of plastic is an action that I feel I can justifiably allow myself. YMMV.
 
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Good bit of marketing. I'd use them. Probably gonna be unaffordable to bespoke builders though. And yes, I cannot understand the objection. There was a brilliant documentary this past week in the UK on radio about how plastic is not the enemy. There is even a company here in the UK that has developed technologies for converting plastic back to oil. And how many here use Graph-Tek nuts and saddles, nylon or fluorocarbon (sounds so much more sophisticated than plastic don't it?) strings, bubble wrap for shipping, sellotape/parcel tape for o holding stuff together, Titebond.... the list goes on. I think it's confusing if you try and somehow make your point across a very complicated subject which 'plastic' is. You'd be surprised how much of your car is plastic too... even high end BMW use it extensively.
 
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I don’t think anyone has an issue with plastic for the Uke Ratio, just WHERE it’s used.

But, it’s so cheap, if it wears out, just replace them.
 
"Theist goes on"

Yes, don't they just!

John Colter.
 
I have nothing against plastic. Hope they are less expensive than these.

klosguitars.com/products/ratio-tuners

Not spam. I am not affiliated with them.
 
I guess some people just equate plastic with cheap, not necessarily in price but in feel as well, and they don't want to look or fee cheap. There is an image to maintain. I mean high dollar is high dollar. You put the most expensive tuners you can find on them on expensive ukuleles. That's the whole idea of it. I can see where someone building high dollar custom instruments would not want to put them on said high dollar custom instruments. However, one of the bullet points in the video is that they are much lighter than metal tuners. There are always those out there who are limited in their ability to hold the neck of their ukuleles up because of the weight of the tuners. One would think these a god send for them.
 
I just called GraphTech, the price IS for a set of 4, $29.95, great, they could very well corner the market at that price. I told him to clarify that on their web site. He sent me a schematic, but the mounting plate is way to big to fit on my Fluke, which is my only uke with straight through tuners.


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I posted this over on the Uke talk section. I hope it's OK to post again here as many of our members don't check the other sections....

I'm a consumer of Graph Tech products, namely, for nuts and saddles. So when Gary over at GT wrote and asked if I'd like to test run a set I said sure. I just got them so I don't know how well they function. They seem smooth in operation and well made. But there is no overlooking the fact that they are obviously made of plastic. They molding lines and indentations on the knob are apparent. (The knobs also look a bit small for my tastes.) There's also some code letters or numbers on the housing which is a little weird. I'm sure they'll be fine in some applications. And You can't beat the price. As far as weight goes, I haven't had them on a scale yet but I figure they weigh about as much as a styrofoam packing peanut. ;) Certainly lighter than any tuner I've ever seen.
 

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I am excited to hear about this design/product, a featherweight purpose built and functional tuner made of plastic. No backlash, and six to one ratio! Also I'm pleased to read that they are available in sets of four; and not restricted to M.O.Q. Of ten thousand.

I like plastic when used properly and thoughtfully. I look forward to peoples' reports on them, and to getting some myself.

News like this is one of the big reasons I visit the luthier's lounge. I'm pumped!

Michael
 
I am ready to buy a set of 4. Small money gamble. If anyone figures out how to order them, please post here. Thx
 
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