s&r's Stew-Mac drill socket looks like a really good idea. It appears to be made of plastic, and if it's one of the common (easy to mold) kinds it probably will soften enough if dipped in hot water to allow you to squeeze it down to a better fit on your smaller knobs. (I don't really know how big Sorcha's knobs are, except from pictures?).

That might provide an actual-practical-real use for those $8 - $12 (US) "electric drills" people keep giving me for Christmas and Birthdays that don't have enough torque to actually turn a wood screw (an advantage for this usage.)

One of the most recent "gifts" is a Black & Decker thing about the size of a 2xC-cell flashlight that runs off 4 AA batteries. $7.95 recently at WallyWorld(?). An attempt to drive one #8x1/2 wood screw pretty well ate a set of batteries and couldn't get the screw all the way in, in a properly piloted/countersunk hole in pine wood; but it works as well on rechargeables as on regular alkalines, and for turning the tuning pegs a set of batteries (or a freshly recharged set) should last through quite a few new strings. Most of them are reversible too, for unwinding the loose turns when you take a string off, or for "the other side" of the peghead if you wind them that way.

Another possibility might be one of the "universal sockets" that have recently become popular with "wannabe mechanics." The usual is a plain steel cylinder about 3/4" - 1" in diameter x about 2" - 3" long that's filled with spring loaded small pins. When you push it down on something the pins on top of the object are pushed back, and the pins that aren't pushed back form a "socket" that can turn almost any shape. The socket itself would probably be large enough to use like a screwdriver handle, especially if you put a layer of tape on it to make the OD "non-skid." I haven't seen these with anything other than a 3/8" square drive hole - for use with std socket wrench drives, and they often run near $20; but Wally's and most of the auto parts places I've been in recently have had them.

A "disk ratchet" might give some added grip with the "universal socket," if needed. This is a "socket wrench ratchet" in the form of a disk about 1.5" in diameter x 1/3" thick with a 3/8" or 1/4" square drive stud sticking out of it, intended to let mechanics get a "wrench" onto bolts/nuts in cramped spaces. Again, a bit "pricey" but worth it if it works better than the alternatives.

John