Official Luthiers Forum!

The current Tuner topic was helpful but raised another question in my mind. I think I have seen ratios from 11:1 to 40:1 - that's quite a spread!

Does the ratio make one tuner 'better' than another?

As a player, I prefer tuners with ratios in the 16:1 neighborhood. 18:1 is also good. Never heard of 40:1 before. That seems a bit extreme.

I bought a set of 16:1 Gotohs for a steel string I built, and I really like them. I find tuners with a more gradual ratio to be quite a bit more comfortable to work with for steel string guitars. It's a lot more like tuning nylon strings with the tuners that have the larger ratios, which to me is a good thing.

Best,

Michael
Michael McBroom38522.0296412037

_________________
Live to Play, Play to Live

banjos and ukes often have 1:1's.

the higher the ratio the more gradual and supposedly easier to manage is the tuning.

the minor downside is that it takes longer to wind on new strings.crazymanmichael38522.0850578704