Review: Gotoh UPT Planetary Ukulele Tuners

I heard about these awesome pegs just recently: apparently those crafty Japanese have been at it again! I picked up a couple sets from Hawaii Music Supply with an option of standard $14-something shipping and they got them to me within a couple days. That's service!

The bottom line on these guys is that they're lightweight, have a classy design that lets them look in place on vintage as well as brand new ukes, they're smooth-as-heck to turn, hold pitch well, and seem to be built well enough that they could handle steel-string tension as well (which gives me all sorts of ideas for retrofitting them to various guitars and banjos).

At roughly $60 a set with all sorts of finish and button options these certainly beat out PegHeds style contraptions (which I never liked installing) and for use on something like an old tenor banjo that would look nice with slightly smaller tuners, they certainly beat out Waverly planetary pegs in the price and weight department. I'm hooked.

Here's the face. This is my wifey's "Mabel Maple" banjo ukulele that I oftentimes work out songs on upstairs. It's a 1930s Harmony-made job and has been our faithful little companion for the last 6 years.