Wooden Ukulele Tuning Pegs

Down Up Dick

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I have an old Ka-Lai Soprano Pineapple Uke. It usta have wooden tuning pegs on it, but the kids played with it and lost two or three. Anyway, I bought some inexpensive tuners which seemed to work okay but don't anymore (too tight and don't fit well. I never played it much anyway so it didn't matter.

Can anyone tell me where to get some wooden replacement pegs? Will violin pegs work? I don't know how to measure the holes, because, of course, they're tapered.

It's probably gonna be pretty much a wall-hanger, but I might wanna play it once in a while. It has sentimental value though, and that's why I'd like to put it back together.
 
Violin pegs should fit, and I'd guess 1/4 size, maybe 1/8 but unlikely. These should be around $5 a set, and rosewood are my favourites as they turn smoother than ebony.
 
Hmm, just looked on the US eBay and Amazon, and pegs are more expensive in the US than here in the UK. About $7 + shipping, and only ebony available.

It might be worth your while searching for violin repairs in your local area. Then you could see which size pegs fit and save the shipping.

I forgot to add that the pegs will not be a *perfect* fit, because holes change shape over time, so a luthier shaves the pegs and reams the holes to get a proper fit. If this is to be primarily a wall hanger then off-the-shelf pegs should work well enough for occasional use, though they will probably look a little uneven as each peg will go into the headstock a little more or less. But if you do go to a violin repairer,they could be fitted precisely and it's a very quick job.
 
These are the ones I buy for most of my ukes, 1/4 size ebony:
http://www.metmusic.com/parts/pegs/violin/505q/violin-peg-ebony-1-4/

They sell rosewood pegs in 3/4 and 4/4 sizes. If you measure the diameter on both sides and the headstock thickness an email to metmusic would probably give you the answers you need. I've only had great experiences with their customer service.

And as Chris said, a little bit of reaming and shaping would be good. If pegs fit they're easy to use, accurate and hold the tuning.
 
Mmmmm! stange coincidence ..I just bought some ebony ones off e-bay for my Island uke experiment...I didnt know what size to get, so I had a guess at 1/4..Looks like a good guess :D *EDIT* I just checked I bought 1/2 size..I hope they fit ok or I've wasted a fiver :eek:
 
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Mmmmm! stange coincidence ..I just bought some ebony ones off e-bay for my Island uke experiment...I didnt know what size to get, so I had a guess at 1/4..Looks like a good guess :D *EDIT* I just checked I bought 1/2 size..I hope they fit ok or I've wasted a fiver :eek:

1/2 size will work, Ken, but I think they look just a little chunky. Plus, the narrower the pegs the easier tuning is, because you turn the peg more for the same amount of tightening.

BTW, you probably already have a full set of taper pin reamers which are (from memory) 28:1. A violin reamer is 30:1. My pegs don't notice the difference, so I use a taper pin reamer at about 1/10 the price of a violin reamer.
 
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