Calibrated tuners?

Nickie

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I saw a video on Got A Ukulele about one that had individually calibrated tuners, a different tension for each string. Now I have no idea which uke review it was.
I wonder if this application would work to cure a thuddy, dead sounding C string that string changes don't affect?
Does anyone know?
 
IIRC that's the Graphtec Ratio tuners available on the Klos ukes. https://www.gotaukulele.com/2020/03/klos-guitars-full-carbon-series-tenor.html
Klos may be using the guitar tuners, as the Ratio uke tuners are peg-like plastic thingies that don't appear to have the ratio gearing.

This wouldn't cure a dead string - the tuner doesn't change the string tension. It has different gear ratios for the different strings so tuning works more similarly across strings. At least, that's the theory. I'm not sure I can tell the difference.
 
Ah, thanks Arcy. I guess I heard more than he said!

Maybe I would try these on a plastic uke???
 
I emailed Baz, he told me this:

Graphtec may several tuners - they make the plastic rear facing planetary tuners (unhelpfully also with the ‘ratio’ name) - but these are NOT those (and seeing reports of those snapping I will never use them)

These are sealed metal gears with different ratios designed for ukes - they are numbered 1 - 4. If they were just taken out of a guitar set I am not sure that, considering it was tuned re-entrant, you could just use guitar tuners 1 - 4.

You need to ask Klos though. They are NOT the plastic pegs.

(a dead string in my experience is either caused by

a) a dead string - just a BAD string - swap it, or..
b) a high fret hum
 
You might notice the C string reacts to tuning with a lot less turning than other strings, so Graphtec made different ratios for each string so that they'd all react similarly when tuning. At least that's how I understand it.

You could try a C string from a completely different set if it's dull, to make it brighter without making the other strings overly bright. Kind of a hassle to find the right combination though. Another option is a wound C string, if you're not adverse to wound strings.
 
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