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September 4, 2008 at 9:40 AM

Today's lessons included the application of no-stick spray to a student's hopelessly stuck pegs.

Verdict: No-stick spray is an excellent choice for unsticking pegs.

(Mitch's lesson: Never listen to the local music store owner when he tells you that you're supposed to put the rosin on your pegs.)

From Tom Holzman
Posted on September 4, 2008 at 1:18 PM

Hope you have a great year!

From E. Smith
Posted on September 4, 2008 at 6:19 PM

No-stick spray as in the cooking spray? I'm assuming you pried the pegs out first. I'm always afraid the pegs will snap off in my fingers.

From Terez Mertes
Posted on September 4, 2008 at 6:30 PM

I could use some please-stick about right now. My pegs, they are a-slippin' in this dry, hot air. Remains to be seen if the peg dope I applied this am will help.

Does anyone have any humidity I could borrow?

From Emily Grossman
Posted on September 4, 2008 at 9:22 PM

E. Smith, the pegs were basically superglued in place, so we were unable to pry them out first. It's a cheap violin to begin with, so I looked around for the first available lubricant that we could get down in the peg box. I use Golden Canola Mist--all natural ingredients! Then I took some rosin remover and cleaned off the pegs and the holes.

Terez, if your pegs won't stick, perhaps you could try rosin? ;) (Actually, I tried that trick on another cheap violin with hopelessly loose pegs, and it worked wonders!)

Stiff pegs are brutal to hands. I woke up this morning and my right hand just ached. It took me a minute to remember why; at first, I thought I'd been doing something wrong during my practice time.

From Christopher Jacoby
Posted on September 4, 2008 at 11:01 PM

Hiya Emily,
The Canola was clever, if they were well-stuck. Shops use chalk and soap in tandem. A little twist test will tell you how much of either you need. Chalk for hold, soap for turn.

From Terez Mertes
Posted on September 5, 2008 at 4:43 PM

Omigosh. Golden Canola Mist. I thought someone was kidding initially when they said cooking spray. Unbelievable.

But, um, why not PAM? Remember when that was the only kind? (Maybe I'm showing my age here.) I didn't think they sold that junk anymore, in this era of olive oil spray, canola oil spritzer, walnut oil mister, essence of vegetable oil, but a friend brought over a box of leftover pantry stuff before moving, and there it was, my old friend PAM. Funny, that. I think it was butter-flavored. Too creepy to use.

From Emily Grossman
Posted on September 5, 2008 at 5:02 PM

I love PAM! I don't know where this all-natural stuff came from. It was just there next to the stove. We must have bought it once upon a time.

For my skillet, I prefer butter or olive oil. But for pegs, definitely no-stick spray.

From Jim W. Miller
Posted on September 5, 2008 at 10:02 PM

When pam came out everything else in spray cans was deadly poison. Pam was creepy in a way people couldn't grasp today. Go to the flea market and come back with a cast iron skillet and toss all the lube. Teflon is such a cast iron wannabe.

From Pauline Lerner
Posted on September 6, 2008 at 9:48 AM

Christopher, you must be about the same age as I am. I remember that when I was a kid, my teacher told me to use chalk to make pegs stick and soap to make them slide. About 10 years ago, I used chalk on a friend's violin which had not been played in years. The chalk worked perfectly. The only problem was finding someone who had some. I wouldn't even try to use soap today. Soap in the old days was probably pretty pure chemically. Today soap is full of fragrances, compounds that purport to make your skin smoother and softer, sometimes dyes, and who knows what else. I wouldn't use modern day soap on my pegs. Besides that, would you really want your pegs to smell like violets, roses, honeysuckle, or mango?

From Emily Grossman
Posted on September 6, 2008 at 10:34 AM

I sort of like the buttery flavor.

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