Violin Fiddle Add-On Accessories Modifications

Subject: Your opinion about machine heads/geared pegs
Date: Thu, 31 Oct 2002 12:11:46 -0700

Greetings Dustin,

Glad to assist if I can:

I'm a classical guitarist who's making the move to violin, and the only
thing that irks me about it, is the tuning pegs.I've been considering buying
a set of machine heads/geared pegs, but want some opinions from knowledgable
people before I do it :)

I've asked various violin players, even signed up for lessons, just so I
could ask my teacher what he thought (I am a very independant person.. Don't
like "lessons" as such.) But all they could say is "well I've never SEEN a
violin with machine heads on it!"

Yes, I have seen geared tuners on a violin before...and yes, they do work fine...however, the violin was built specifically to accommodate the open-geared tuners...most all violins designed with the traditional wooden pegs have scrolled pegheads that would not accommodate geared tuners. That's not to say that geared tuners couldn't be designed to fit...only that it would be next to impossible to achieve.

I also come from the guitar world...and currently play violin. The 1 to 1 ratio offered by the wooden pegs of the traditional violin does makes it difficult to tune. However, I use peg drops on the wooden pegs (which locks in the tuning solid) and 4 fine tuners on the tailpiece...which allows me to fine tune the violin at an amazing accuracy.

Is there any GOOD REASON not to install lil geary things in my violin?

Reasons not to install:

1. It will affect the tone to some degree...
2. It will make the neck somewhat top heavy...
3. It may be somewhat intrusive on a violin of high value...and it will certainly affect the value...

Hope the above helps in some way...Mickey

(just for reference, I am planning on purchasing from International Luthier
Supply: http://www.internationalluthiers.com/violinparts.php , look for
Schaller Adjustable Pegs)

Please let me know what you think :)

Dustin Hawks
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