fiddle pegs

[No.4shot]

Does anyone have a good source for fiddle pegs? I am making my second powder horn and I would like to use one. The first horn I made a plug out of antler. which turned out nice.

 

[paulvallandigham]

If you do an internet search( google) under violin pegs, you get all kinds of sources.

If you know an instrument repair shop, that works on violins, and other string instruments, the repairmen often have a box of worn or broken pegs they have replaced. I bought some from a local repairman for about $.50 a piece, and he was glad to take my money. Then he asked me what I was going to use them for, and was inpressed. Its was not something he had ever considered. Turns out he did some shooting and small game hunting, and was not anti-gun at all. He enjoyed meeting someone who was into ML rifles.

 

[omarick1948]

I get them thru[url] metmusic.com[/url] and on Ebay regularly! You can also get them at TOW

 

[Harold1950]

I make my own by going to a craft store (Michaels in Sacramento) and in their wood section they have bags of 2-4 wooden "acorns", called that because they do look somewhat like acorns on one end. The other end is hollowed out and will fit on a corresponoding sized wood dowel. I glue the "acorn" onto a dowel and after it has dried, I file two opposite sides of the "acorn" and make the dowel the size I need it to be and it makes a very good fiddle peg. Hope this helps.............. :wink:

 

[davy]

I bought some for my current project horn at a local music shop ... they tried to hornswaggel me for a premium price until I reminded them I did not own a vioin. I paid $3.00 a piece :surrender: for two as it was! :shake:

Davy

 

[Adam Isrow]

That's why i love this forum. I learn something new every time i read it. I'll have to check that acorn thing out, thanks for the tip.

 

Look at the bottom of page 380 in your Track of the Wolf catalog. There are 4 different shapes and sizes pictured there.

 

[Walker357]

Paul, where was that? I haven't found any in Champaign.

 

[paulvallandigham]

The guy had an office in a building over on University avenue, about a block west of State street. I don't see his business listed in the phone book, so he has probably retired, or moved. He did excellent work. I called another guy in champaign, but he said he throws his old pegs away. You might call the School of MUsic at the U of Ill. and ask them where they have their string instruments repaired. That is how I found the first man.

 

[coehornboy]

Your best and cheapest source, as already mentioned, is a music repair shop or old-time music store (not an electric guitar shop). However, if you feel ambitious or can't find the exact size you want, violin building supply companies also sell jigs that allow you to taper dowels or pre-made pegs to smaller diameters.

 

[davy]

Worst case here is a drawing of one of mine with almost exact measurements taken with my cheap HF digital calipers! You can cut and file one from a scatch piece of hardwood, if you have to ... in about 10 minutes I think!

Thank goodness for digital cameras! :hatsoff:

By the way .. heres mine AFTER I shortened & modified it for my horn!

Davy :thumbsup:

 

[paulvallandigham]

YOu can buy Ebony from many wood suppliers, and[url] Woodcraft.com[/url], which sells small pieces to use in making pens. They have a lot of exotic hardwoods you can buy to make a special peg for your horn. You don't need a lathe to turn these out. If you have a half inch chuck for a drill press, you can simply chuck a round piece of stock into the drill, and use files, to reduce the diameter. I would not do this if I were trying to make several pegs, but for just one, it can do the job. Once the stem is completed, you can clamp that in a vise, and then file the " handle " to shape.

If you ask around, you can usually find someone who has a small lathe you can use to do this kind of work. And, the chinese versions are almost dirt cheap. In fact, haunt the used equipment sales, and you may find a good lathe for next to nothing, simply because companies are getting rid of them to replace them with CNC equipment. An old used lathe may not have straight enough rails to do work on barrels, but its usually good enough to work on small wood projects like this. Replacement beds, and rails are now coming to be available, again because of all the used equipment that has been thrown on the market.

 

[shortbow]

TOW has ebony fiddle pegs for two bucks.

 

[omarick1948]

I know a lot of people have started using violin pegs for their powderhorn spout pegs, but be careful!...Alot of times we like to just stick the tapered violin peg back into the horn and give it a tap of the hand. If your neck spout on your horn is carved or filed fairly thin it doesn't take many "taps" to split the horn neck!

Get into the habit of just gently replacing the peg into the spout hole and then just give it a slight twist to secure!

I mention the above for another reason.... Ebony wood pegs are gaining alot of popularity these days, and is a very hard wood, as you know and
I'm starting to get alot of split spout repair exercise...(when possible to repair). ... Ebony pegs are nice in a properly taper fitted hole, but quickly turns into a spout splitting wedge in a straight drilled spout hole.

Ebony horn pegs were very rare for the PC person,as most original horns examined and recorded usually had simple pine or other softer woods used for pegs....Yes,some of the more ornate powder horns from arms makers or a Honer Shoppe used them now and then, but only occasionally. Just something to think about fella's!

Rick

 

[davy]

Luckily I tapered my horn spout with a taper reamer, and already give it a klight tap & slight twist to stop it too! :shocked2:

Thanx for the tip Horner sir! :thumbsup:

Davy

 

[paulvallandigham]

Good advice, Rick. I bought a tapered reamer at my local Ace Hardware store for less than $20.00. I don't jam anything into my horns. In fact, I like to cut or file a flat in the side of the peg to let a little air in, so the peg doesn't " freeze " in the horn.

 

[omarick1948]

Davy and Paul,
I've always said, that my MaMa raised Fat Boys and not Dummies :youcrazy: , but that was only in my opinion!

A few years back, I let a friend(?) borrow one of my best taper reamers and he dropped it on concrete and really messed it up so bad that I couldn't use it anymore! :cursing: ...I then bought me a high end adjustable violin peg taper reamer and peg shaver set for my horns from Zuzek Tools for $175.00 :shocked2: :youcrazy:

I also have a favorite peg reamer, that I think I paid about $40 for in 1978. I might have to get one of those $20 reamers from ACE....Why? :hmm: Just like a guy can't have enouh guns....a guy never can have enough tools....RIGHT! :thumbsup:

Rick

 

[davy]

Never enuff tools! :thumbsup:

Davy

 

[bocalbender1]

Hey NO.4 , I just happen to work in the instrument repair field. I have friends who still work at the big store( no free ads from me, I'm on my own now)The luthiers are still beer drinking buds of mine and all of us take hobbies as a matter of course. I could get what you want for shipping cost. just send me a PT. My names Don. Later, Good luck, BB.

 

[No.4shot]

Wow...who would have thought there were so may options. I see them at gun shows but that will be about another month away. Thanks for all the suggestions and ideas.

#4