Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

Rickard tuners and similar thoughts

#1

Was just thinking this morning. We know how great the Rickard tuners are for fine tuning, but did anyone ever develop an idea for banjo, based on fiddle tuners? By that I mean where a fiddle is tuned by the main tuners and then fine tuned at the Tailpiece. Would this even be possible?

#2

I think most people don’t know a banjo can actually be in tune… I think that could have happened back when banjos were fretless and had fiddle style tuners, but they might not have had the technology? But I think it’s unnecessary for modern banjos because they have geared tuners. Lots of people have started using internally geared tuners on fiddle, and they remove the fine tuners from the tailpiece

#3

I’ve never seen geared tuners on a fiddle. Surely that would be better, I wonder why all fiddles don’t have them, unless it’s just tradition.

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#4

I’ve seen pictures of them, most people don’t like them cuz they add lots of weight, which makes the fiddle hard to hold (neck pain) and the new ones are internally geared so you can’t tell without close examination

#5

Just had a search online and they have mixed reviews. Apparently you have to have a special tool to ream out the peg hole to fit the geared tuners and then your stuck with them. Some people love, some people hate them because of this.

#6

Are you talking about perfection pegs? (Or similar) or the ones that look like upright bass tuners? Cuz perfection pegs (or similar) should fit into the pegholes unless they’re worn out, and you should be able to go back easily at any time. Also, they don’t wear your pegbox out

#7

Well apparently not according to the write up. They put a little warning. ! Some of the reviews are very mixed because of how they are fitted.

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#8

As I understand it. Each violin peg is made to fit its own peg hole, you can’t swap them around. So if you have then used this tool to ream out the holes to fit these geared pegs and don’t like them, then your original pegs will not fit as well again and probably slip.

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#9

I seemed to have vastly digressed from my original post now. Lol :joy:

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#10

My guess is that’s an idiot warning. I’ve read on a couple fiddle forums of several people who have fitted their own, and also people who refit their pegholes when they get loose, doesn’t seem to hard for anyone with DIY skills