Hi Neil,

Google says replacement tuning pegs would be much less expensive. Could that be an option or is it more of a repair job?

Cheers,
Ed.

Hi Neil,

I've made several string instruments with friction pegs – including a couple of lutes (that's a lot of pegs). Most of them were fitted using home made kit.

I made the tapered reamer from silver steel and milled 3 flutes on half the circumference, leaving the other half plain. I didn't harden to avoid distortion. Experience suggests that one flute will do and that cutting the wood is best achieved by creating a burr on the cutting edge like you would when sharpening a cabinet makers scraper.

The "pencil sharpener" was made by reaming a hole across a plank of wood and then planing this down until a narrow parallel slot is revealed. The blade from a hand plane can then be fastened to the plank, bevel up, with a G clamp so that it is tangential to the peg.

Using some commercial peg paste makes the pegs turn and grip very nicely.

cheers,

Rod