Banjo tuners

[mordechai]

Anyone here know of any geared banjo tuners that work for bass guitar?

[202dy]

Couple of problems with banjos tuners. The first is that the tuner hole is too small to accommodate a bass string. The second is that the tuning ratio is typically 4:1. Quality bass tuners are usually in the 16 to 24:1 neighborhood. A banjo tuner would be a tuning nightmare.

Cool looking, though.

[mordechai]

I thought because banjo tuners use a planetary gear mechanism, and guitar tuners use worm drive that the ratios for each kind of mean different things. Could be wrong, any engineer types care to comment?

I figure the holes could just be enlarged with a drill press.

[bassteban]

Dunno bout the gear ratio question, but I doubt the post itself is large enough to permit drilling a large enough hole for bass strings. There were some bass & guitar tuners that were kind of arranged like banjo tuners- Steinberger..? I don't mean the bridge-type- let me google & get back...

[202dy]

Originally Posted by mordechai

I thought because banjo tuners use a planetary gear mechanism, and guitar tuners use worm drive that the ratios for each kind of mean different things. Could be wrong, any engineer types care to comment?

I figure the holes could just be enlarged with a drill press.

Ratio is ratio. Banjo tuners will not provide the accuracy needed to fine tune a bass guitar.

Steinberger used planetary tuners on one or more of their six string models.