| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Bau |
Posted - 09/25/2010 : 03:32:09 AM
I've heard different things, mostly that geared tuners ae the way to go, that they are easier to tune with and stay in tune better, but others say that friction tuners can do just as well.
any opinions on the pros vs cons of both?
I've been looking at some vintage ukes that only have these wooden peg type tuners, do they realy hold a tune? I think I recall seeing them on old lutes too...
are friction tuners ever used on guitar or only small instruments like uke? |
| 7 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| slipry1 |
Posted - 09/30/2010 : 08:31:54 AM
I have suffered through (or is it "from") friction pegs in my guise as an old time banjo guy. If you have to retune on the fly as fiddlers tromp through a medley of G, A , and D tunes, friction pegs are an disaster. I converted my 1919 Fairbanks/Vega Regent to geared pegs back in the late '70's, except for the 5th string, which has a really cool spherical nut. I keep a fiddle fine tuner on that string, speaking of which, most of the fiddles I know have fine tuners on all 4 strings to handle retunings, or tuning, for that matter. I'm having a fretless minstrel banjo built by my buddy, Al Hart. He's using the tuning pegs No'eau referred to. |
| thumbstruck |
Posted - 09/30/2010 : 07:34:28 AM
Friction tuners are "traditional" like using sheep intestines to make catgut for strings instead of nylon. |
| noeau |
Posted - 09/26/2010 : 8:49:51 PM
Yup Paul is correct.Use on new ukes for an oldy effect. |
| rendesvous1840 |
Posted - 09/26/2010 : 06:44:16 AM
These are what noeau is referring to. http://www.pegheds.com/
They are a direct replacement for violin type friction pegs, but may not work on all ukes without having the holes taperd and reamed to size. Most uke friction pegs have smaller shafts with straight holes. These are designed for tapered holes/ With the proper reamer they will fit, but there's no going back to the original uke tuner afterwards. Again, use caution when considering modifications to valuable vintage instruments. The valu may drop sharply after permanent changes are made.
Unko Paul |
| RWD |
Posted - 09/26/2010 : 01:54:35 AM
You would be doing yourself a favor if you pass on the friction tuners. |
| noeau |
Posted - 09/25/2010 : 1:48:13 PM
There are geared tuners that look exactly like friction pegs but have a 14 or 16 to one ratio. They are being used on ukes to impart a vintage look. They were however designed for violins. |
| rendesvous1840 |
Posted - 09/25/2010 : 05:40:26 AM
Friction tuners work pretty well with nylon or gut strings, but not nearly as well with metal strings. A lot of fiddles use fine tuners with metal strings. Nylon/gut stretch a lot, and a slight turn of the friction peg doesn't make much change in pitch. Metal strings don't stretch much at all, so a small turn of the friction peg makes the pitch change a lot, causing problems tuning. It's hard to hit the exact sweet spot. The friction 5th string peg on my first banjo irritated me for years,until I had it replaced with a geared peg. But that may not have been a problem if it had nylon strings.
Depending on the gear ratio, taking the stretch out of nylon/gut strings with geared tuners could be very tedious. Friction pegs have no gear reduction to deal with, a full turn of the knob makes a full turn of the shaft.
With an older instrument, the wood may dry and shrink, making the pegs a little loose, but most modern friction uke pegs have a screw in the knob to tighten them. Most of the violin family don't have this type of peg, so "peg dope" is used on them. I suspect guitars may have had friction pegs at one time, but I haven't seen any personally. Dad's old Slingerland from the early '30's has geared tuners.
I would recommend a certain amount of caution before deciding to replace original tuners with modern ones on vintage instruments. The value of older instruments usually is adversely affected by replacement with non-original parts, or by refinishing.
Paul
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