I suspect there will be many more threads if these tuners are produced in numbers and are distributed widely using the Graphtech network. If this does occur, a major benefit will be accessibility to many more ukulele players. Which will generate many "should I change" type posts. Think about the possibility of changing tuners as soon as your uke arrives as well as changing the strings. If these tuner become easy to find and buy in music shops across the planet, and they work as advertised, they will be popular.
The price will be an issue, looking at the Graphtech website, do they cost US$29.95 each, or is that for a set of four?
Pretty obviously a set of four. If they where US$29.95 each they would price themselves out of the market @ US$119.80 would they not?
If you can get a set for $30 or less, it will definitely fit into the same realm as changing out the strings as soon as you receive a uke. Graphtech sales and marketing could even have a sales strategy to just sell the product into the refit market as well as bulk sales to factories. Let the refit market drive the promotion and sales. How many UU members would change out their tuners tomorrow if they could just go to a local shop or order a set of tuners to arrive within week, for $30 a set, with the planetary gears at a weight of 5gms?
I know Gotohs and Pegheads are good as well, but the sellers and distributors make it very hard to find a set for the average punter. And they cost so much by the time they reach Australia.
Personally, I don't think you can beat a solid steel friction tuner to last for 100 years or more. Or a set of metal geared tuners. Plastic is a lot more vulnerable to age and all sorts of hazards, contact with the wrong substance or a stress point can cause it to crumble in your fingers.
What sort of ' Wrong Substance' would cause plastic tuners to ' Crumble in your fingers' ?
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