Broken peg

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Broken peg

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Andy Culpepper

Posts: 3023
Joined: Mar. 30 2009
From: NY, USA

Broken peg

As a peghead newbie I'm wondering how common this is with ebony pegs.

The other day I was trying to tune up and a peg snapped off in my hand...very frustrating!

Obviously the guitar is unplayable until I get a new peg made. It makes me not want to have a peghead let alone try to play a gig with one.

So, does this happen often, is it just a freak incident, or do I need to be using something to make the pegs turn easier?

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 1 2009 9:55:31

aleksi

Posts: 528
Joined: Nov. 10 2008
From: Helsinki, Finland

RE: Broken peg (in reply to Andy Culpepper)

huh, thats bad. I have a peghead and it never even came to my mind that something like that could happen.

the pegs are cone shape so if they are too stuck you can littlebit pull them of and turn then. Theres some pegdope that also helps, I use it now and then.
Many discussions about this subject in the foro. If you do search Im sure you'll find some more tricks with pegs.

you have my sympathy, Hope you'll find a replacement peg soon.
good luck man!

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 1 2009 10:08:39

Armando

Posts: 302
Joined: May 27 2005
From: Zürich, Switzerland

RE: Broken peg (in reply to Andy Culpepper)

Hi deteresa1

As thin pegs are easier to tune, some luthiers shave them accordingly.
Due to the fact that the string tension plus the friction apply force to the peg, it may easily become overforced while tuning the guitar. You can reduce the risk by pulling the peg a bit out while tuning. The use of graphite powder, chalk or parafin may reduce the risk, but there is no recipe to absolutely avoid breakage. I had this problem as well on one of my peg head guitars and i have desided to shave the pegs less thin on my next guitar in order to reduce the risk.

I recommend you to get some pegs in reserve in order to have replacement at hand if one of them breaks.

regards

Armando

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 1 2009 10:39:04

Stephen Eden

Posts: 914
Joined: Apr. 12 2008
From: UK

RE: Broken peg (in reply to Andy Culpepper)

Intersting. I once broke a peg that looked like a solid piece, but it was actually two pieces. it was a factory made peg but it wasnt obvious that it was poorly made. perhaps thats how it happend?

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 1 2009 11:29:51

Andy Culpepper

Posts: 3023
Joined: Mar. 30 2009
From: NY, USA

RE: Broken peg (in reply to Andy Culpepper)

Thanks all for the replies. Maybe I was pushing too hard when tuning the guitar. This was on kovachian's Navarro student guitar... but the pegs seem like good quality, definitely one piece.
It broke along the grain diagonally across the peg. Maybe the grain of the peg was not straight enough?

Good idea about keeping extra pegs in reserve.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 1 2009 12:09:22

keith

Posts: 1108
Joined: Sep. 29 2009
From: Back in Boston

RE: Broken peg (in reply to Andy Culpepper)

deteresa1--having only ONE spare peg is not necessarily the answer. the diameter of pegs can vary geatly and therefore you may need 6 spares as the diameter of the "g string" peg may differ from the "d string" peg and so on. you will need to pre-shape each peg for the corresponding peg hole. here is a good experiment--next time you change all strings pull one peg out and fit it in another hole. you might find the pegs fit much differently in different holes.

the above can be rectified by taking the guitar to a VIOLIN repair shop and having the pegs refitted or new ones fitted. the reason why i suggest a violin shop and not a guitar repairperson is that violin people do this stuff all the time whereas few guitar repair people have even touched a peg.

to prevent problems with pegs the key factor is FIT. true peg dope (they sell the stuff at violin stores) does help but the key factor is fit. a poorly fitted peg will create nothing but headaches. another factor related to fit is to buy high quality pegs, especially ebony. a lot of the ebony floating about is second and third rate due to the fact that getting first rate ebony is getting tougher to find by the day and it is snapped up by instrument makers and peg makers who sell the first rate pegs at a healthy price.

by the way, i am a peg head and 4 years ago i had my then old ramirez refitted--it cost $125 for all pegs. it was well worth the investment.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 9 2009 15:05:52

Andy Culpepper

Posts: 3023
Joined: Mar. 30 2009
From: NY, USA

RE: Broken peg (in reply to Andy Culpepper)

Thanks for the reply keith. I actually decided to have my luthier put in a set of "planetary" pegs because we would have had to replace the whole set of pegs anyway due to different design. Plus I don't feel much like dealing with traditional pegs anymore and this seemed easier than cutting out for machine heads.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 9 2009 15:09:35

krichards

Posts: 597
Joined: Jan. 14 2007
From: York, England

RE: Broken peg (in reply to Andy Culpepper)

quote:

I actually decided to have my luthier put in a set of "planetary" pegs

How do you like them?
They are expensive I think, so how do they compare?

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Kevin Richards

http://www.facebook.com/#!/kevin.richards.1048554

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 9 2009 23:35:50

kovachian

Posts: 506
Joined: Jan. 30 2008
From: Americanistan

RE: Broken peg (in reply to Andy Culpepper)

I had briefly considered changing over to planetaries when I owned the guitar, but I quickly "snapped" out of it.

Apologies for poor taste in humor.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 10 2009 6:14:19

Andy Culpepper

Posts: 3023
Joined: Mar. 30 2009
From: NY, USA

RE: Broken peg (in reply to krichards)

quote:

How do you like them?
They are expensive I think, so how do they compare?

He hasn't done it yet. I'll let you know when I get the guitar back.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 10 2009 14:46:13

Andy Culpepper

Posts: 3023
Joined: Mar. 30 2009
From: NY, USA

RE: Broken peg (in reply to Andy Culpepper)

Got my guitar back from the shop with my new planetary pegs yesterday, and just strung it up today. I ended up doing the retrofit myself with his help and tools, and it was very simple to do after getting everything set up correctly.

THEY ARE AWESOME!

I love these things... they still bring up new strings almost as fast as traditional pegs, and are way easier to fine tune. They turn like butter. They still feel lighter than a standard set of machine heads.
The look is basically the same as traditional pegs especially from the front, but on the player's side they are quite a bit fatter (the only slight downside).

I might not build these into a new guitar because I like machine heads anyway, but it's a GREAT and easy thing to do for anyone who has been frustrated by traditional pegs.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 30 2009 6:55:07