What a difference new tuners make!

My almost-indestructible gigging uke is an Ohana CK-50W. It came with the closed-gear, white tuners that seemed a bit imprecise. Not long after buying it, I took it to a gig, dropped it on a tile floor, and had to get a crack repaired where the solid top meets the laminate side. I told the luthier I wasn’t wild about the tuners. She dropped in the silver Grover’s with black buttons. I love them. I’ve since dropped it at gigs two more times, opening a slight crack in the laminate that hasn’t affected the play, so I’m letting it ride. Those tuners make this one of my favorite players.
 
Those crooked screws would have driven me crazy and I am not OCD. Especially if I paid someone to install them.

The new tuners look great. I really had to look at the photos to see the old holes. Nice job of replacing them. I like the look of the gold tuners, they look like they belong. The black knobs makes them more subtle visually and work nicely with the black in the binding. (Purfling?)

All-in-all, I much prefer your new tuners. They compliment the look of your Ohana very well.

I've had those crooked screws for years but I didn't even really notice them. When the job was done, the tuners were working and they weren't falling off so I didn't really pay them any attention. Once the crooked screws were pointed out to me, then I took notice and it's all I could think about whenever I looked at that uke and it did start to drive me crazy.

The old holes are actually covered up by the tuner plate. If you were to take off the tuner you'd see the blonde colored holes where I glued in the toothpicks before re-drilling. The picture of the tuners on the back of the headstock has several lighter looking spots from the gold reflecting off of the gloss finish which may have been confused with some repair work.
 
I would be that someone. I sort of felt guilty pointing it out. Funny how we all notice different things. Some people see scratches and finish imperfections. I see crooked screws with mangled heads. :)

Looks like you did a great job of sorting it out! You clearly care more about your uke than your guitar repair tech did.

Ah, so I have you to thank(?:D) for inspiring the change! :cool: It's such a small change (+ the black strap button) but it's surprising how differently I feel about the uke now. I think it looks so much better and I feel better about the uke overall and better about playing it so thanks!
 
My almost-indestructible gigging uke is an Ohana CK-50W. It came with the closed-gear, white tuners that seemed a bit imprecise. Not long after buying it, I took it to a gig, dropped it on a tile floor, and had to get a crack repaired where the solid top meets the laminate side. I told the luthier I wasn’t wild about the tuners. She dropped in the silver Grover’s with black buttons. I love them. I’ve since dropped it at gigs two more times, opening a slight crack in the laminate that hasn’t affected the play, so I’m letting it ride. Those tuners make this one of my favorite players.

It's funny and interesting that such a small change can make such a big difference or even change attitudes.
 
It's not that I don't like closed tuners, I have them on some of my other ukes and they're great. I don't know that one is any better than other, it's just a different look. It's just that at the time (years ago), the Ohana site had this uke only pictured with silver open geared tuners and that is what I was expecting and it was a look that I liked. What I was expecting and what I ended up getting could hardly be more different - closed instead of open geared tuners and gold instead of silver. And while some may like them, I thought the boxy look of the tuners with white buttons was hideous!! This is what they looked like:

These are so big and boxy they seem more suitable for a guitar. I think they were modeled after some tuners that probably originally appeared on an old Fender or Gibson Guitar. In any event, I was 150% certain it wasn't a look that I would get used to or come to like with the passage of time.

I don't like those either, I had those on an Ohana I had, I replaced them with Grovers. I put the boxy ones on a Shark and it was actually a nice upgrade!

ck803.jpg ck804.jpg

The Makala pic' is the wrong one, but I can't remove it.
 

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Ah, so I have you to thank(?:D) for inspiring the change! :cool: It's such a small change (+ the black strap button) but it's surprising how differently I feel about the uke now. I think it looks so much better and I feel better about the uke overall and better about playing it so thanks!

Yep, all my fault! But, it seems it worked out well for you. :shaka:
 
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