My pegs will not move.. what to do?

July 25, 2008 at 11:36 PM · Hi, so I've never posted on this site before but I have run into a minor crisis this afternoon... I had to take a week off from playing because I was moving and I went to go and start up my practicing again this afternoon and my peg for my A string will not move! I changed the strings about a week and a half ago, and the other 3 strings are fine. Is there something I should use on the peg to make it move? My pegs have a history of being tight but never like this.

Replies (8)

Sora Tsuchiya

July 26, 2008 at 12:13 AM · Peg dope.

Ray Randall

July 26, 2008 at 12:29 AM · One of the best Luthier's is in NJ, Hans Nebel. Look him up and see him about this.

Ron Gorthuis

July 26, 2008 at 10:06 AM · likely, did humidity increase? if so, the wood has swelled, and the pegs are stuck.

you need to dehumidify your violin enough to have the wood shrink. you can run an AC unit for a couple of days. cooler and drier air usually works to shrink the wood to free the pegs.

a more drastic measure is to place the violin into a refrigerator. does the job faster, but you run the risk of cracking the varnish.

good luck.

E. Smith

July 26, 2008 at 12:36 PM · Peg dope won't help until you can take the pegs out. I recommend you take it to a luthier who will remove the pegs and then you or he can apply the peg dope. Last time we did this (it was a change in humidity) it was a $25 visit, but worth it. When one of my kids was little I actually snapped a peg off trying to turn it (even this was not an expensive repair.)

Jahriel Rivera

July 26, 2008 at 01:03 PM · Give it to me, I bet I can get it to move.

: D

In all seriousness though, the same thing happened to my sister's violin not too long ago. Considering that it is summer here and the humidity has been crazy lately, it seemed to be a humidity related issue. Our luthier put in peg dope to make them better able to move. At first, the pegs might have the tendency to slip under tension. Tune carefully if you choose to have peg dope applied.

Good luck

: )

LUIS CLAUDIO MANFIO

July 26, 2008 at 04:58 PM · I wquld take it to a luthier. If you force the jammed peg too much it may break.

www.manfio.com

Fang Fang

April 24, 2012 at 03:25 AM · My son pressed the peg too hard in while changing the string and it wouldn't budge no matter how we tried. I even used the hammer/dowel method....What I finally did was: Use the "Compressed Gas Duster" with the attached straw to carefully spray around the end of peg, the cool air must have shrunk the wood a little bit....after couple minutes... my son was able to twist it out! No mess left and no damage done!