Mike's Oud Forums

Are tunings pegs ever coated?

Parabellum1262 - 3-12-2017 at 01:55 AM

I varnish pegs to protect them from finger grease stains but I keep the varnish off the shaft of the peg. It's not the most attractive method because the varnish is very dark and glossy compared to the raw wood of the shaft but it does look better than finger staining.

I presume pegs are often dyed black for the same reason, to make stains invisible without a coating but many pegs are quite light in colour.

Oiling the entire peg would solve the problem and possibly result in a non-functional pegbox.

Shellac-ing just the knob would protect it without standing out as much as varnish, I expect.

Alfaraby - 3-12-2017 at 02:29 PM

Well, No !
Ebony & Rosewood pretty well super fine sanded pegs, shall not bear finger tips, nor have the precisely tapered shafts to be shaved; so no need for anything whatsoever to be applied on.
Any material applied on the shaft might result in unwanted new issues, so why to 'lay a helthy body in a sick bed'' in the first place ?
Nowadays, there are a vast variety of Indian well made pegs offered on ebay, amazon, aliexpress .. etc. for reasonable prices, so you don't need to dye, soak, dip, apply, paint pegs no more.
Make sure you get the right hardwood peg and you'd never have this issue ever again. Ask for the precise dimentions of the shaft before placing your order.

Good luck

Yours indeed
Alfaraby

Parabellum1262 - 3-13-2017 at 02:10 AM

Thanks Alfaraby!

I suspected that avoiding grease stains was mainly about wood choice but it's good to know 100%.

Alfaraby - 3-13-2017 at 05:14 AM

My pleasure friend.
Beware of the cone precision: it should be 1:30 to meet the reamer taper. 1:30 is calculated by substracting the tip diameter from the other side of the shaft= devided into the shaft length.
Good luck

Yours indeed
Alfaraby