FRETS.COM Illustrated Glossary
Tuning
Pegs
© Frank Ford, 9/6/98 Photos by FF
The classic tuning pegs:
They're tapered wooden pegs that fit into matching holes. You must press inward as
you tune up to avoid slippage.
The same thing fitted to a guitar peghead:
Some tuning pegs are made of metal and have a patented friction mechanism to keep
them tight and relatively easy to turn:
Now here's a head full of tuning headaches:
How about NINETEEN of these babies to wrestle every time you play? I believe it was
Julian Bream who said a lute player literally spends half his time tuning!
Geared tuners are often called "pegs," but they're more properly known
as tuners, gears, tuning machines or machine heads:
The only exception that comes to mind is the geared banjo tuner, which is made to
look as much like a friction peg as possible:
These are never called machine heads. They're "geared pegs" or "tuners."
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