Gg Tuning Machines For Slotted Peghead

22-05-2021
 |  [RAND-100] - Comments

Peghed Tuners (or Peghead Tuners) are lightweight planetary geared tuners. They look like old style tapered friction tuners but have an internal 4:1 gear ratio and are lightweight which make them ideal for ukuleles. As a bonus they are made in the United States. Wow!

A slotted peghead differes from the standard both in having less mass and an increased break angle over the nut. OK, there's the easy part. How much tonal difference, if any at all, that is perceptible by the human ear is a different matter, altogether. The 'original' tuning machines were mounted on slotted headstocks. In the 19th century, the standard guitar peghead was slotted for geared tuners, or was made flat for 'friction' pegs of wood, bone or ivory. Lots of old steel string guitars, as well as many newer ones made in the old style, have slotted headstocks.

Peghed tuners are manufactured in right hand and left hand threaded pegs. The direction that the string tension pulls is the tightening direction of the threaded tuner.

The ‘normal’ right hand threaded pegs will be installed on the treble side and the left hand ‘reverse’ threaded pegs go into the bass side.

STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS for #7543

Step 1 - Drilling Holes

After laying out hole locations through drill the peg holes with approximately an .080” drill bit. Using a 1/4” Brad Point Bit drill halfway thru from the front side. Flip over and drill the other half way from the back side using the .080” pilot hole as a guide. This will prevent grain tear out from drilling in one operation.

You will need a 30:1 tapered violin reamer, this is a different taper from a guitar peg reamer. Knock the handle off so it can be jigged in a drill press. Run at slow speed (approx 300 RPM) and keep the flutes brushed out to keep the tool healthy.

Determine the depth to ream the peg head to. Its a very good idea to use a piece of scrap wood similar in wood and dimensions to your peg head to practice with. The biggest mistake installing these pegs is over-reaming and making the hole too big, it’s not easy to make the big hole smaller.

The hole wants to be reamed approximately .030” smaller than the pegs diameter. Measure the smallest thread on the peg, subtract .030”, mark the reamer and ream to depth on your test piece.

Step 4 - Tools

Slotted

Use rib-joint pliers with a thick leather pad to wind the pegs in.

Step 3 - Identify Left and Right Threaded Tuners

The pegs are right and left hand threaded. The right hand threaded pegs install into the treble side of the peg head and the left hand (or reverse) threaded pegs install into the bass side of the peg head.

The pegs should be just shy of showing their threads on the face of the peg head. Go slowly do not over ream. When winding in the pegs they will want to wander and go in anything but straight.

Gg Tuning Machines For Slotted Peghead Truss

Watch carefully how they are progressing into the hole and do what it takes to coax them into going in straight. The nose of the tuner wants to come up and out of the middle of the hole on the face side. Watch the installation film to better understand the process. These pegs aren’t easy to install correctly but they sure are fine pegs.

Step 6 - Notes

Pay no attention to how the pegs turn in your hand before installation. You may not be able to turn them at all until they are installed.

Once installed the turning tension can be adjusted by pushing the button down to tighten up the turning tension or by pulling the button up to make them turn easier.


Dudenbostel 12fret 00045 ... read more about this guitar here


S lotted headstocks are often found on classical and 12 fret guitars and equally often there are myths surrounding the effect of the difference in construction vs. standard solid headstocks. In this article, I look at the differences in tone, restringing and durability.


Tone.

Dick Boak at Martin once mentioned that slotheads exerted more tension on the strings due to a steeper angle from the nut to the tuner shaft. This creates an audible difference according to Boak, particularly on smaller-bodied guitars. In particular the deep bodied OO Martin 'Women In Music' model. The story goes that two prototypes of this model were made. One with a solid another with a slotted headstock and the factory workers preferred the audibly different sounding slotted version.

Machines

However, most modern luthiers like Al Carruth feel the tonal differences between a slot and solid head guitar are not necessarily solely due to the string break angle. The string break angle can easily be altered on either style of headstock and Carruth’s tests have revealed that the string vibrates in the same way once 15 degrees of break has been achieved on the nut or saddle.

However, other factors such as weight and mass which can play a part as slot heads often have lighter, open geared tuners as opposed to the heavier enclosed solid head tuners. To confuse the matter, this does not appear to be the case in the vintage Martins, where John Arnold has weighted solid vs. slotted headstocks and have found no appreciable difference in weight. He attributes this to the fact that the slotted headstocks were left thicker than solids.

So there is no clear or easy answer as to determine the difference in tone between a slotted and solid headstock guitar.

Rounded, wide slots on a 1931 0018... read more about this guitar here


Restringing.

Certainly restringing a slot headstock differs from a solid. One aspect is the slot size- smaller slots can make the job difficult and there also the risk of scratches and damaged to finish.

Gg Tuning Machines For Slotted Peghead Hand

Furthermore, coated strings can often slip on slot heads due to the reduced friction. This often occurs if there was too few 'throws' over the tuning post and can be remedied by fraying the teflon coating or allowing a few more throws over the tuning post.
Fragility.

Gg Tuning Machines For Slotted Peghead Screws

I feel that the slotted headstock does suffer one distinct disadvantage over solid headstocks: I have been more headstock cracks and breakage in vintage slot-head Martins than those with solid headstocks. John Greven agrees with me and is reluctant to offer slotted headstocks as a standard option in light of similar experiences.

Of course, if you are careful with your guitar, there is no reason why a slotted headstock will be any less durable than a solid headstock- after all, we don't go around smashing guitar headstocks against mic stands everyday!
Summary.

Gg Tuning Machines For Slotted Peghead Shims

It was Al Carruth who stated “For my money, slot or flat is an esthetic decision, and I don't lose any sleep over the tone one way or the other.” and I couldn't agree more. I love the look of slotted headstocks and judging from sales volumes, I'm not alone!
Pictures kind courtesy of owners.
© T. Tan

Tuning Machines For Slotted Peghead Guitar

Errors are unintentional although we try very hard not to make them- corrections or feedback are always welcome! Guitars are property of individual owners.
Any infringement of copyright is entirely unintentional. Any copyright issues should be address to: writers@guitarbench.com. We will attempt to resolve these issues quickly. Guitars remain property of respective owners.