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Pegs? Nope, machine heads!


Stackabones

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Posted

I don't play violin, but at work I have a cheap student model with friction pegs (and no fine-tuners on the tailpiece). When I try to tune it I always spend several minutes messing with the friction pegs, shooting past and falling short of the notes. Too little force and the pegs slip as soon as I let go. Too much force and I sometimes change the tuning -- and then it's really stuck out of tune unless I start over.

 

About those friction guitar tuners ... I'm not a math major but I don't understand how they are effectively 5:1. Doesn't that mean you have to turn the button-end around 5 times to make the string-end turn once? With gears I understand how that works, but since it's all turning at the same time, doesn't that make the ratio 1:1?

 

Edit: Ok I misread. They are apparently geared tuners. I just looked at the picture and assumed they were friction pegs.

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I believe that John McLaughlin has friction pegs on the posh classical guitar that was made for him by a posh luthier. It is the instrument he plays on the Thieves & Poets album so it definitely works - sounds pretty good too.

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Pooie - I passed up an all solid wood Alvarez-yairi Classical because it had friction tuners - and I just dont want the hassle. If I had known then...

 

Thanks for the info!

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Just got some of the gearless Steinberger tuners that are 40:1 ratio. I am looking forward to the precision that I can get with them.

 

Friction tuners on my ukuleles are a pain to get precise.

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It is a cool idea but I wonder if the 5:1 ratio would make the instrument difficult to tune. Regular guitar tuners usually have between 12 and 18:1 ratios.

 

 

My banjo tuning pegs have a 4:1 ratio, and I can tune it just fine.

 

Dan

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