antekboodzik - 8-20-2013 at 06:11 AM
Can lute pegs be made from:
- Alder (Black Adler, Alnus glutinosa),
- Jatoba (Hymenaea courbaril),
- Iroko, not sure about exact latin name,
- Red Meranti?
All of these are easy available for me. Adler is spoken to be one of best for woodturning (?).
antekboodzik - 8-20-2013 at 12:25 PM
I made a misspell in english name of Alder, now corrected.
Jody Stecher - 8-20-2013 at 01:13 PM
Once, many years ago, I replaced the cheap fruit wood pegs on an oud with ebony pegs that together weighed more than the oud. So when I sat down to
play, the bowl lifted off my leg and the peg head tilted toward the floor. I was so happy to get rid of the horrible old pegs, which were painted
black, that before installing the new pegs I threw the old pegs in my wood burning stove, my only source of heat in that house. The pegs and their
paint made the house warmer for one minute. Maybe. Then I installed the new pegs and discovered this new weight problem. Someone suggested I drill
holes in the ebony pegs to lighten the weight. I did this, in both shafts and knobs, and it worked. But now I had a very strange looking oud with pegs
resembling black swiss cheese. I later replaced these with very light boxwood pegs. So to partially answer your question I would say to make sure that
10 to 13 pegs of whatever wood you choose weighs less than the rest of the oud. These particular ebony pegs were very heavy. Ebony pegs are usually
fine though. As for Alder, Red Meranti, etc, I don't see why not. Good luck!
Dr. Oud - 8-23-2013 at 07:30 AM
The peg material is not important, as long as the peg is harder than the peg box wall. Otherwise, the peg shank (shaft) will compress instead of
wedging into the peg box hole. This is evident by a step or flange in the peg shank, then the peg will not seat and will slip.