Planetary Tuners on an Ohana Sopranino

My Ohana SK-21 Sopranino is my only ukulele out of a dozen or so with friction tuners, specified as Gotoh on the website. I have not been happy with them for the usual reasons and wondered about the feasibility of replacing them with one or another planetary tuners sets out there.
I have several questions regarding this:

1. Will they add significant weight to such a small instrument? It's my understanding that custom builders avoid geared tuners on sopranos for this reason.
2. Will they deaden the sound of such a small instrument? It's a solid wood ukulele with a unique tone from its tiny body and neck. Will these tuners significantly impair the neck and headstock's vibration and contribution to tone?
3. Once installed, will the uke fit in the Ohana hardshell case sold for it?
4. I can't do the work myself; is an set installed terribly expensive? Can a a music store repair shop install them?

A uke with ears is not a deal breaker for me, but I appreciate the aesthetic appeal of the back-facing tuners, and will not change this. Not fitting in the case is a deal breaker. I read Senior Member Booli's Blasphemy thread on putting geared tuners on his flukes, and I agree with the frustration of dealing with these tuners. I also watched some videos by some dealers and members of the online uke community explaining that with care and feeding, the friction tuners can be very satisfactory. I'm wondering if I should give them a chance. I enjoy this this little axe, and I'd play it more if not for this. I appreciate any thoughts and comments. Thanks.
Joe

I'd think traditional UPTs would be heavy. I don't know where we're at with them, but would the Graphtech tuners work for your application? You'd have to check spacing clearance.

Thanks for the tip, Choirguy. I don't know anything about them, but they look attractive and functional on the Graphtech website. I'll look into it. I continue to welcome additional comments from all readers.

I cannot imagine that they would affect sound. Likely not to affect case fit either since usually neck is braced up and Planetary tuners are not that different (just measured... G Planetary are 30 mm from end to headstock and my KoAloha frictions are 28 mm). What might be of more interest is whether the hole size needs modifying from what you have to what you change to and whether there will be any cosmetic blemishes from the process. Cost can be a factor too for a "cheaper" ukulele since the tuners themselves, without labor, may run $50 or more.

Pegheds would work.

Benjamin

I'm pretty sure the hole size for UPTs is quite a bit bigger. As I recall from my old SK-21M, the headstock was pretty big relative to the ukulele so they'd probably fit. The Graphtec's Choirguy mentioned look like they need a fair bit of real estate at the back so check the dimensions to see if there's space if they interest you.

I guess the other option is to do a bit of googling on properly using friction tuners. To be honest, I hadn't given it much thought and didn't like friction tuners either, but some recent comments about tuning past the note and coming back to it, helped. i.e. if it's low, tune a bit high and come back down. I'm slowly warming to them as I like the look of friction tuners. While I love the UPTs on one of my ukes, they are quite a bit chunkier looking than friction tuners. I just accept that sometimes the note will be a notch past "in tune" on the tuner, and it's not generally noticeable to my ear.

A third option would be to get better quality friction tuners. I did that with my SK-38, but it didn't seem like a huge improvement to go from cheap Gotohs to Grover 6's. Waverly's might be better, but they're almost as expensive as UPTs.

glennerd said:

Waverly's might be better, but they're almost as expensive as UPTs.

Click to expand...

Waverly pegs are superb, and perfectly suited to the size of a sopranino, but are potentially much harder to fit successfully than typical friction pegs or even UPTs. They require carefully angled countersinks on each side of the headstock, otherwise you'll probably have to overtighten them to avoid slipping. Because of that, headstock thickness is critical. Gorgeous pegs, though.

Great comments and suggestions. Thanks to all who replied.

Joe