Violin Forum/Message Board

[albertsnowdon]

hi i have couple of questions i am looking at making the holes on th scroll
for tuning pegs i have a 1/30 tapered reamer do i ream the holes to the full length of the reamer towards the handle secondly are the pegs that you buy already set at the required taper thank you albert

[actonern]

Most of the better peg makers seem to ship pegs close to the exact correct taper.

But... after some time pegs can and usually seem to slightly change dimension. A peg may warp slightly, often lose its perfect roundness into something more oval.

What you need to do is get the pegs first (they're available in different shaft sizes... best to get the narrowest guage shafts for new builds, as this leaves more pegbox material to wear over time before a bushing job is required.)

Once you have the pegs, you can turn them on a peg shaper tool to a perfectly consistent and round dimension... one that matches your reamer perfectly.

Then you set the distance that you want the peg to protrude from the cheeks of the neck and ream the hole till the peg stops there, or just a bit proud of "there."

You're getting the amateur version of things from me... I haven't seen a better explanation on-line of how to do it than is written up here...


http://www.darntonviolins.com/violinmagazine/book/setup.pdf

[Chet Bishop]

No! you do NOT want to go all the way in with that reamer. Please do read the Darnton version, above, before you go on.

I try to stay small, so as to do the minimum damage to the pegbox.

The pegs are sold as blanks, ready to be shaved down to the size you want. Check the Strobel book for a good minimum diameter...or, if Mr. Darnton is paying attention, he can give you solid numbers.

Even if the pegs are shipped at exactly the right taper, it is meaningless, because they are at the maximum diameter, and you do NOT want your violin pegbox reamed out to maximum on the first set of pegs.

Eventually the pegs will wear the pegbox holes larger, and when the peg is sliding too deeply into the box, some future luthier will simply ream the hole lightly to make sure the taper is still good, and fit new pegs at the next larger size.

That cycle can go on for years before the holes get too big, but when they finally get too big, some luthier will have to bush and re-drill the holes, making them small again, and cut new, smaller pegs to fit the new, small holes. If you run that reamer all the way through, you have essentially ruined your pegbox; at the very least, it is ready to be bushed, re-drilled and repaired before you even complete the fiddle.
_________________
Chet Bishop
https://bluefiddles.com
https://fivestringfiddles.com

[johngia]

What everyone has said already.

Additional info according to Johnson and Courtnall (who I often see referenced to):

Diameter at collar 7.0-7.5 mm

Taper 1:30

Distance of string
hole from pegbox wall 4.0 mm

Distance from Collar to Pegbox 9-10 mm

[Chet Bishop]

There ya go! Solid numbers.
_________________
Chet Bishop
https://bluefiddles.com
https://fivestringfiddles.com