I tried, Flattop! When I typed the thread title all the letters were there but when I hit the submit button the program took one letter as a toll or something.

Giac, can you describe the spitting process more fully. Did they completely remove the peg, just back it off, or what? I've heard of the spit technique but never seen it.

As far as replacing the pegs with geared tuners goes, I will have to wait until I own the instruments.