Graph Tech Ratio Tuners

Yes Gotoh UPT are my Go to tuners, see what I did there:p

I have them on 4 of my tenors, a super concert, super soprano and I installed them on my Mya Moe baritone. Absolute quality in workmanship, tuning ease and durability. In the grand scheme of thing the $40 extra cost is well worth it for peace of mind and satisfaction of use.
 
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If that is the case, I can already do that with friction pegs! LOL

That sounds like strings sticking in the nut
 
To me it just sounded like a case of overshooting the pitch

Peter is a very experienced and adept musician. He would definitely know if it were strings catching or user error. Check out the links in his signature, you'll see.
 
Sorry to resurrect an almost 1 year old thread, but I had questions about these Ratio tuners having just bought a set to put on a newly acquired Kala KA-SML-SLNG (NUD post coming soon). I tried to glean as much information from this thread, and figured I would continue the discussion, rather than open a new discussion in the Uke Tech Support or Luthier's Lounge sections.

I was hoping these Graph Tech Ratio tuners would just be a simple retrofit, but the outer diameter on the front bushing is 9mm while the diameter on the front bushing on the stock tuners is 8mm.

The questions I have for those with more experience than me:

1) Obviously I need to widen the hole with a reamer. Do I need to use a specific reamer for wood (which cost upwards of $70+ on StewMac and $50+ from woodworking sites) or can I use any reamer available at my local hardware store (about $10 at Lowe's but seem to be meant for plastic pipes)?

2) The stock bushing and the GraphTech bushing both have vertical sides - not tapered. Would a tapered reamer work properly in this instance, or should I seek out a tool that would widen the hole with straight sides?
 
Sorry to resurrect an almost 1 year old thread, but I had questions about these Ratio tuners having just bought a set to put on a newly acquired Kala KA-SML-SLNG (NUD post coming soon). I tried to glean as much information from this thread, and figured I would continue the discussion, rather than open a new discussion in the Uke Tech Support or Luthier's Lounge sections.

I was hoping these Graph Tech Ratio tuners would just be a simple retrofit, but the outer diameter on the front bushing is 9mm while the diameter on the front bushing on the stock tuners is 8mm.

The questions I have for those with more experience than me:

1) Obviously I need to widen the hole with a reamer. Do I need to use a specific reamer for wood (which cost upwards of $70+ on StewMac and $50+ from woodworking sites) or can I use any reamer available at my local hardware store (about $10 at Lowe's but seem to be meant for plastic pipes)?

2) The stock bushing and the GraphTech bushing both have vertical sides - not tapered. Would a tapered reamer work properly in this instance, or should I seek out a tool that would widen the hole with straight sides?

I've used a slightly larger drill bit, either by hand or in a drill. That collar should be a snug fit, but not very tight. I bought a cheap reamer from Amazon to enlarge some holes, and it worked fine. I enlarged the holes for tuners using a drill bit a few days ago.

The screws in the Graphtech are tiny. Use a good screwdriver and use an all of a tiny drill to make pilot holes. Maybe a bit of wax on the threads.
 
I've enlarged holes for tuner bushings many times with a cheap reamer. Just go very slow and straight, counting how many turns are required on the first one, so you don't go too far on the subsequent holes. Even if you did go too far, you could wrap the bushing with some teflon plumbers tape to make it snug.
 
I've used a simple round file for enlarging tuner holes. You just need to make sure that the diameter at some section of the file is the diameter you want for the holes. I've done this with a vintage Martin so you can imagine my anxiety when I was doing it but ultimately it was very simple with zero issues.
 
I've used a simple round file for enlarging tuner holes. You just need to make sure that the diameter at some section of the file is the diameter you want for the holes. I've done this with a vintage Martin so you can imagine my anxiety when I was doing it but ultimately it was very simple with zero issues.

Yes, there is an anxiety level, and that increases with the worth of the ukulele. :)

The trick is to go slow and keep checking the fit. If too much is removed, making up the difference isn't difficult. I doubt that I'll be buying more Graphtech tuners, though. At least two people here said that they broke near the string hole, and they are not consistently tight. Three I just installed turn easily, but the fourth one is rather tight. For a really good uke, I'd use Gotoh.
 
I'll second (or third) the suggestion that a cheap reamer is fine. The one danger with a reamer is that you end up with a tapered hole, so the bushing gets tighter as you push it in. This isn't a huge problem as the splines in a bushing essentially create a tapered effect on the busing, too, but pushing a bushing into a tapered hole means the difference between too tight and too loose is a little narrower and more important to get right. Ideally it should take firm finger pressure to push in. If it's tighter than that, STOP and pop it back out and open the hole up a bit more. It's surprisingly easy to split a headstock by forcing a bushing in, or have one crack in the future after humidity changes cause the wood to shrink against a too-tight bushing.

You can also use 80 or 100 grit sandpaper wrapped around a dowel or the shank of a drill bit. Most people have sandpaper and drill bits at home already, so that way you don't have to buy anything. Or a round file if you have one. I would avoid trying to use a plain twist drill, it's really easy for them to grab and tear or torque the part and crack it when you're drilling out a hole that's only slightly smaller than the bit is.
 
I would avoid trying to use a plain twist drill, it's really easy for them to grab and tear or torque the part and crack it when you're drilling out a hole that's only slightly smaller than the bit is.

I've used drill bits without problems, but it can be dicey. I first try to turn the bit by hand, depending on the size. A round file also works well. There's no such thing as going too slow or being too careful.
 
I hope this isn't considered a necropost, but I did just get some clarity from Graph Tech about the breakage issues. It was an issue with the early tuners and they've redesigned them to address the problems. I asked about using them on a wound low G tenor string, and they said they've tested the current version on metal guitar strings without issue, so I feel better about trying them out now.
 
I hope this isn't considered a necropost, but I did just get some clarity from Graph Tech about the breakage issues. It was an issue with the early tuners and they've redesigned them to address the problems. I asked about using them on a wound low G tenor string, and they said they've tested the current version on metal guitar strings without issue, so I feel better about trying them out now.

Thanks for that. I bought two sets and used only one, but I guess it's safe to more more. Necroposts are okay, and yours is a perfect example of why.
 
I had an issue with these tuners on my custom soprano. They didn't break completely like described on this thread but one of the tuners started rattling when playing any string because of some resonance. It's something to do with the internals. Once I located it it was easy enough to replace. That's why I like these tuners. They're cheap and easy to replace and, in my opinion, they're easy to use and look neat.
 
I hope this isn't considered a necropost, but I did just get some clarity from Graph Tech about the breakage issues. It was an issue with the early tuners and they've redesigned them to address the problems. I asked about using them on a wound low G tenor string, and they said they've tested the current version on metal guitar strings without issue, so I feel better about trying them out now.
I'm glad you posted this. I had completely ruled these out. It's good to know they have corrected this problem. I've used quite a few of their string nuts and saddles on instruments.
 
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