bulerias1981
Oud Junkie
Posts: 763
Registered: 4-26-2009
Location: Beacon, NY
Member Is Offline
Mood: John Vergara Luthier Lord of the Strings instrument making and repair
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Making tuning pegs @ Lord of the Strings
Hi everyone. I want to share how I make my tuning pegs (which is something I rarely do)
I use a mini Grizzly wood lathe with a Vega duplicator. The duplicator works similar to a key cutter. It runs off a template, and creates a close
perfect copy. Making tuning pegs is not what they advertise, however its commonly used for pen blanks, chess pieces and table spindles/legs (for the
large lathe duplicator) just to name a few. A small metal lathe also does a good job of making pegs.
Here I will walk you through the steps of making pegs. I used 30 year old Swiss Pear wood to make these pegs.
Part of the design I wanted to copy was from a Nahat oud, however I didn't like the flatness of the head. I copied the general shape of it, but the
head or (handle of the peg) is what I altered to make more comfortable while tuning.
The oud these are for is a custom make that I will share once its completed.
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The Nahat pegs that I used to copy the outside shape of the head.
Here is the well seasoned Swiss Pear board
After everything is marked the bandsaw has its way with it..
X marks the spot where the lathe centers will be driven
Using an awl and a mallet, I puncture the hole for the live center
The master template pattern is placed in the template holder
The cutter removes material from the blank, and begins to look like a peg
Once I have finished cutting as much as I can from the master template, I move the blank to another lathe for finer shaping/sanding/filing for more
refinement
I cut off the ends on my smaller bandsaw
Here is where I begin to deviate from the original Nahat pattern. I use the radiused part of my sander to shape the handle of the peg
More to go..
Here is the end result. After sanding the radius into the handle, the edges are rounded using small scrapers, sandpaper and then a steel burnisher.
The handle and collar are treated with beeswax finish, buffed then the pegs are reamed to the desired taper.
A beautiful shape, more comfortable on the hand while tuning.
The full set
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hussamd
Oud Junkie
Posts: 117
Registered: 12-18-2013
Location: Bartlett, IL
Member Is Offline
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Very nice. Thanks for sharing. All your instruments are gorgeous!
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Fritz
Oud Junkie
Posts: 246
Registered: 6-14-2012
Location: Northest Germany
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Hi John
Very good job indeed... the original reminds me to an Ouud played by Hamza El Din (the worlds great lost... as it was with Paco de Lucía)
Only the colours were different... white (bone ?) pegs with black inlay.
Do you want to make the inlay ?
I have a small lathe for metal... abusing this for peg-shaping and so on... The conus of the pegs I make only with this lathe... absolutely precise
fitting in the conus of pegbox, made with a reamer... the lathe tune in exactly the same cone... It works great.
Perhaps I will make my own pegs, if I get enough of a useable wood. All in the future ofcourse...
Best wishes !
Fritz
Music is the food for the soul
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bulerias1981
Oud Junkie
Posts: 763
Registered: 4-26-2009
Location: Beacon, NY
Member Is Offline
Mood: John Vergara Luthier Lord of the Strings instrument making and repair
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Thanks Fritz,
I'm not making the inlay on the pegs for a number of reasons, the customer doesn't want that, and the pegs are not flat like the original Nahat. The
oud however has Nahat inlay on the soundboard.
About the metal lathe, you can set it up like Robert Lundburg does to duplicate pegs.
The reason I made these pegs is because you can't find that shape anywhere. Otherwise most pegs are good enough.
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