I have a cheap old balalaika (given to my ex-sister-in-law by a Russian sailor at Newport Docks - don't ask!) and the machine heads are exactly as you describe. Having had little use, they still function fairly well. If the assembly is any use to you, I can remove it. Let me know.

That's a lovely version of the Cossack Lullaby. The song is one of my favourites and I've been singing it for years to a slight variant of that tune. The words are a poem by Mikhail Lermontov, and the beautiful soft lullaby sound hides true Cossack attitudes. I think the mother's sadness comes through in the singing.

The best translation I have come across is:

COSSACK LULLABY (from M Lermantov)

Sleep, my lovely baby, lullaby.
Quietly the bright moon looks into your cradle.
I shall tell you stories and sing you a song;
So shut your little eyes and doze, lullaby.

The Terek is flowing over the stones, its turbid waves lapping;
The wicked Chechen creeps up the river bank, and sharpens his dagger;
But your father is a veteran warrior, tried in battle;
Sleep, my baby, have no fear, lullaby.

The time will come, you will get to know for yourself the soldier's way of life;
Boldly you will put your foot into the stirrup and take up your gun.
I shall embroider your war-saddle with silk...
Sleep, my darling child, lullaby.

You will be a fine fellow to look at and a Cossack at heart.
I shall come out to see you off, and you will wave goodbye.
How many bitter tears I shall shed that night in secret!
Sleep my angel, quietly, sweetly, lullaby.

I shall pine and wait for you disconsolately;
I shall pray the whole day long, and try to foretell the future at night;
I shall think that you are fretting in a foreign land...
So sleep, whille you know no care, lullaby.

I shall give you a little holy icon for your journey;
Put it before you when you pray to God;
And, when you prepare for a dangerous battle, remember your mother...
Sleep, my lovely baby, lullaby.

Phil