Help: The care and feeding of the Friction Pe

Subject: The care and feeding of the Friction Peg
From: Naemanson
Date: 04 Apr 01 - 10:23 PM

I have two mountain dulcimers to care for and they both have friction peg tuners. So far tonight I have been decidedly unsuccessful in tuning either instrument.

Does anyone have any words of wisdom on how to use this ancient technology?

Subject: RE: Help: The care and feeding of the Friction Pe
From: flattop
Date: 04 Apr 01 - 10:52 PM

It's good to see Peg mentioned in a thread even if you did cut her short.

You can find information pages on friction pegs by searching 'friction pegs' on Google or another search engine, like these two pages from fret magazine. It suggests that you push the peg in as you tune and it also suggests chalking the peg if it is too slipery.

www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Musician/GenMaint/TaperPegs/taperpeg1.html

Subject: RE: Help: The care and feeding of the Friction Pe
From: Gypsy
Date: 04 Apr 01 - 10:53 PM

Put in geared tuners. It may be sacrilege, but it will surely make your life easier. If you are masochistic enough to insist on the friction, ask 'Spaw. He'll know.

Subject: RE: Help: The care and feeding of the Friction Pe
From: Giac
Date: 04 Apr 01 - 10:59 PM

I've seen many an old time fiddler solve the problem by spitting on it.

Subject: RE: Help: The care and feeding of the Friction Pe
From: GUEST,Fred
Date: 04 Apr 01 - 11:24 PM

I have one that the pegs stay in pretty well. I do push in very hard as I turn them either direction. They do love to loosen up if they have half a chance. Fortunately, for the fine tuning, mine also have some little plastic sliding gadgets at the bottom of the strings which I can push up or down to adjust slightly.

Subject: RE: Help: The care and feeding of the Friction Pe
From: wysiwyg
Date: 05 Apr 01 - 12:17 AM

Hm..... Rick Fielding had a thread I think on fiddle pegs that should be some help. Sorry, don't know if I can find it for ya on this computer. Let's see.... it would have been before November 1, 2000. Sorcha probably remembers which one I mean. I will see if I can find it.

~S~

Subject: RE: Help: The care and feeding of the Friction Pe
From: wysiwyg
Date: 05 Apr 01 - 12:22 AM

23980!

Change the thread ID in the URL to 23980 and strip out what comes after in the URL. Then hit GO.

(Also I refreshed it for you.)

Damn, that SuperSearch is COOL. I searched on Judd Violins, remembering I had recommended them in that thread. Wotta Mudcat!

Cool thread ID on this thread BTW. Nice round number!

~S~

Subject: RE: Help: The care and feeding of the Friction Pe
From: Naemanson
Date: 05 Apr 01 - 11:50 AM

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.

Subject: RE: Help: The care and feeding of the Friction Pe
From: GUEST,#1
Date: 05 Apr 01 - 11:59 AM

Ask a fiddler. Dulcimer players all have different perfect ways.

Subject: RE: Help: The care and feeding of the Friction Pe
From: Giac
Date: 05 Apr 01 - 05:19 PM

Naemanson -

The old fellas I saw use the spittin' technique, loosened the peg, spat onto the peg outside the hole, then twisted and pushed so that the saliva coated the peg inside the hole. The peg stayed put, too.

Mary

Subject: RE: Help: The care and feeding of the Friction Pe
From: Naemanson
Date: 05 Apr 01 - 09:59 PM

Thanks, I'll try that.

Subject: RE: Help: The care and feeding of the Friction Pe
From: Extra Stout
Date: 05 Apr 01 - 10:15 PM

Friction pegs are why God gave us gears. It's an I.Q. test.

Subject: RE: Help: The care and feeding of the Friction Pe
From: catspaw49
Date: 05 Apr 01 - 10:26 PM

Hi naes.........Listen, the hot info is indeed at Frank Ford's place as it usually is. He's simply the best. The one thing he does mention that is important is that friction pegs do a much better job with less tension such as on fiddles. In general Apps have a higher tension and make holding a bigger problem.

Here are a couple of things he doesn't say:

1) You know the material used for scrubbing pots on the back of your dishwashing sponge? It actually comes in different gradings just like sandpaper or steel wool and is more controllable. To make this easy, as I doubt you have access to the plain stuff, go buy a new dishwahing sponge for "All-Around" use.....not the "Pots and Pans" model. Use that instead of steel wool. Try the chalk first after you clean them up. If it doesn't do the trick, you might need to buy some peg dope.

2) Cut off some of the material and use it to clean the inside of the holes. Cleaning both pegs and holes will help. Apply 4 heavy chalk lines to each peg.

The rest of the info is great......If you are having trouble accessing the site, here's a blue clicky.......CLICK HERE

If that doesn't work, try www.frets.com and then to the Index page and find the info on tapered pegs.

Good luck and PM me if you have any problems or additional questions.

Spaw