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Many people have cold feet about installing internally-geared tuning pegs on their violins or fiddles. We think that it has to do with the fact that most of us envision a planetary-geared violin peg as heavy and "fake" looking. Nothing could be further from the truth.
There are two makers of planetary pegs for violins and fiddles, PEGHEDS™ (also sold under the Knilling brand as "Perfection Pegs") and Wittner Fine-Tune™ Pegs. PEGHEDS™ and Wittner Fine-Tune™ Pegs both make wooden pegs obsolete, except in the case where one is interested in rigorous adherence to historical authenticity on an old instrument.
Don Rickert Lutheriehas installed many sets of both brands of planetary tuning pegs on many different types of violins and fiddles, as well as traditional wooded tuning pegs, "Caspari"-type (i.e. variable friction pegs by Grover, Schaller, Gotoh and others) of all variety and antique style guitar-type geared tuners (the ones like miniature bass tuning machines). I will be brazen enough to say that I think we have installed at least one set of EVERY violin tuning peg ever made!
The advantage of PEGHEDS™ is that their polycarbonate tuning button can be made to look pretty much like ebony. This is done by sanding and rubbing with steel wool, which is pretty much a necessity, as one can see the mold parting lines on PEGHEDS™ otherwise...a dead giveaway that the buttons are plastic (note: the shafts of PEGHEDS™ are black anodized aluminum and plastic). For extra money, PEGHEDS™ are available with genuine wood buttons; however the part of the shafts that you see are still black anodized aluminum alloy. Wooden peg buttons are possible because the gearing for PEGHEDS™ is in the peg shaft.
The Wittner Fine-Tune™ pegs have their gearing in the buttons, which are also polycarbonate. From 5 feet away (maybe even less), they look just like ebony; whereas closeup they look like textured polycarbonate. We have not tried to make Wittner pegs look like ebony by rubbing with steel wool.
Why You Should Seriously Consider Planetary Tuning Pegs for Your Fiddle
I will address the advantages of planetary pegs in general. Then I will explain our preference for the Wittner Fine-Tune™ pegs.
- When using properly-installed planetary pegs, tailpiece fine-tuners are NOT necessary. Both the PEGHEDS™ and the Wittner Fine-Tune™ pegs tune a string approximately to the accuracty of a cent, which is 1/100th of a semi-tone.
- Very few things absorb vibration more effectively than fine-tuners on the tailpiece.This is especially true of fine-tuners that are attached rather than built-in to the tailpiece. Besides, except for metal core strings, you should not use fine-tuners anyway. A single fine tuner for the e-string (even contemporary gut string sets use a plain steel or steel core wound e-string) IS a good thing for two reasons:
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- Generally, the e-string needs some damping to make it less annoyingly shrill. A fine tuner does a good job at damping the e-string.
- A single fine tuner on the e-string changes the geometry of the strings on the tail side of the bridge to good advantage for getting maximum response out of the low strings.
When just the e"-string is attached to a fine-tuner, the result is that the e"-string side of the tailpiece is lifted, thus reducing the pressure that the e-string exerts on the bridge. At the same time, the g-string side of the tailpiece is lowered as if being pushed downward, thereby increasing the pressure of the g, d' and, to a lesser extent, the a' strings on the bridge...voila!--better low note response. This effect is increased when a compensated or "harp" tailpiece is used. This phenomenon is something we discovered by fortunate accident.
This better low note response is, of course, enhanced by the fact that the a', d' and g strings are NOT dampened by fine-tuners (assuming none are installed!).
Why We Prefer the Wittner Fine-Tune™ Planetary Pegs
- PEGHEDS are screwed into the peg box and must be glued to keep them from slipping out, thus damaging the peg-box more than the damage already caused by screwing the pegs in. The Wittners, on the other hand, are held in by friction alone rather than screwing and gluing.
- The Wittner pegs have more durable internal-gearing than the PEGHEDS. We have never had a Wittner peg fail; whereas we have had more than a few PEGHEADS fail due to stripped gears. Replacement of failed PEGHEAD is a really serious issue, as it will have been glued into place.
- The Wittner anti-slip mechanism works better...the PEGHEDS often slip a cent or two.
- With the Wittners, ONLY the peg button and the part of the shaft to which the string is attached move; thus NO wear on the peg-box. With the PEGHEDS, the dome end (tip) of the the peg turns, thus causing friction wear on the peg-box.
A Major Advantage of PEGHEDS over Wittners
Whereas Wittner only makes pegs for violin-family instruments, PEGHEDS makes a tuning peg for just about every instrument imaginable. We will continue to use PEGHEDS for other instruments such as banjos and ukes.
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