violin repair advice please

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phil_bphil_b Frets: 2010
edited April 2020 in Other Instruments
My son has a violin that he dropped the other day and snapped one of the tuning pegs.

I though I could just buy a new one and spent £13 on new pegs but it is not as simple as that.

A new set of pegs arrived the description said pre tapered and ready to use but they are much thicker that the originals. to get them to fit you need to match then up and this requires special tools. A reamer and and a peg shaver is needed but these are about £40. My research also suggests this is a skilled job to get right.

I did epoxy the broken peg back together and it seems to be holding for now.

Is it worth me buying the tools and attempting to fit the pegs myself or am I in danger of ruining the instrument. Normally I would take it to a shop. The violin only cost £60 originally common sense says use it as is and just buy another if it breaks again but it seems criminal just to throw it out
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Comments

  • I would suggest that it might be a fun project if you fancy it and having bought the reamer and shaver could you use it again for anything? If so and you can punt the £40 go for it your only going to lose your time his respect and the cost of a good session in the pub which you can’t do now anyway. If your attempts are unsuccessful then you have three options:
    1, Turn your lad into the Seasick Steve of the fiddle playing world
    2, Buy him a new fiddle and turn the old one into a piece of art putting it on eBay where it will be snapped up by someone opening a hipster coffee shop
    3, Convince your son playing guitar is the best option and give him one of yours thus creating the need for you to buy a replacement guitar
    www.maltingsaudio.co.uk
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71960
    I have a couple of old cheap violin pegs. If you have some means of measuring the diameter of yours accurately at both ends, and the length of the taper, I could see if there's any chance one would fit.

    It's actually ridiculous that violins still have friction pegs, it's purely tradition - it makes them a pain in the backside to tune. Much better if they had single guitar-type heads...

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • droflufdrofluf Frets: 3615
    ICBM said:
    I have a couple of old cheap violin pegs. If you have some means of measuring the diameter of yours accurately at both ends, and the length of the taper, I could see if there's any chance one would fit.

    It's actually ridiculous that violins still have friction pegs, it's purely tradition - it makes them a pain in the backside to tune. Much better if they had single guitar-type heads...
    Totally agree. Hate having to tune my son’s cello; despite him having perfect pitch it usually ends up with me, a Snark and lots of words you wouldn’t want your grandmother to hear. 

    For cello at least there is one form of geared tuner that can replace the pegs. 
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