WITTNER^® FINETUNE‑PEGS

Robert Cauer, Luthier, Los Angeles

I tried and used the WITTNER Finetune-Pegs now for a long time and can say with confidence that I feel totally secure installing them into any expensive or inexpensive instrument. In fact, for the security of the violin or cello I much prefer them to traditional wooden pegs. Following are some of the reasons:
1.
Wood expands and contracts depending on the humidity. In winter it may rain outside indicating possibly high humidity. But, when we put the heat on inside the house the humidity plummets. The result is that the shaft of conventional wooden friction pegs gets smaller. The pegs start slipping because they lost their friction. If they all slip before they were put in tighter the bridge will fall down. Most violinists are not practiced in retuning the strings when they are all loose and the bridge lost its correct position. The danger is that while tuning the violin all the way back up, the bridge tilts more and more towards the fingerboard and possibly slams down with a loud noise and breaks.
2.
If the player noticed that one peg came down and turns all pegs a little tighter in to prevent the above scenario, everything is OK — for now — until the humidity goes back up. The reason for the humidity change can be that there is less heat needed in the house or just some changing weather conditions. Now the pegs expand and become so tight that they are hard or impossible to move. On some violins this extra pressure can result in a peg box crack above the violin "a" peg hole. (For viola and cello the endangered area is above the "d" peg hole). This is an expensive repair, which has to be done immediately. Without repair, the only way the peg would hold now is to double the peg pressure on the unharmed side of the peg box. I don't think I have to explain the consequences to that.
3.
The shaft of a wooden peg and the peg hole become uneven and a little oval over time. The peg starts warbling. This is the sensation you get when you turn the peg one full turn and half of the turn the peg is easy, the other half is suddenly very tight. Of course as the pegs fit less and less, many players compensate with more pressure. This, too, can result in a peg box crack.
4.
One of the less expensive side effects of a tight peg is that it only moves with considerably more force and therefore less control over the amount the peg gets turned. The result is often a broken string.
5.
There is hardly any violin of some age, which does not have bushings. They are needed when uneven holes have had to be corrected and enlarged. Eventually, they are too large and have to be re-bushed. This is another expensive repair.
6.
Wooden pegs need fine tuners on the tailpiece. The tailpiece gets heavier and the sound quality can suffer.

All the above mentioned problems are removed by using WITTNER Finetune-Pegs. The shaft does not move. There is no wear on the peg hole. The turning of the peg is always even and very easy. With an 8.5:1 transmission ratio the tailpiece does not need fine tuners. These pegs are a little more expensive than the cheapest conventional pegs. However, they come in different shaft sizes and don't have to be shaved to size by the violin restorer. This results in lower installing cost so the total cost should be about the same. I highly recommend the WITTNER Finetune-Pegs to any restorer or musician.

Robert Cauer, Los Angeles