Mike's Oud Forums

Thoughts on mechanical tuning pegs

Jaffa Road - 11-3-2024 at 10:41 AM

The oud that I have been playing for almost 20 years needs some maintenance on the pegs and peg holes.

I am thinking of maybe replacing them with Knilling mechanical pegs


https://tarablic.com/products/knillings-mechanical-pegs

Has anybody retrofitted their oud with these pegs?

Any regrets?

Worth it ?

Any downside other than the cost?


Doc139 - 11-3-2024 at 12:23 PM

I put Wittner FineTune pegs on all of my four oud and I would recommend it to everybody. It makes your life so much easier!
Alexander

danyjr - 11-4-2024 at 03:03 AM

I use Wittner FineTune pegs on my oud and they are very reliable. The Knilling planetary pegs you mention use a similar mechanical method but I have never used them myself.

Jaffa Road - 11-4-2024 at 09:28 AM

Please post link to where you got the Whitner pegs.

They are $200 for four ( Violin) on Amazon.

Is that what you paid.

Are Violin the correct size?

Is There an oud set or do I have to buy 3 sets of violin ones and then have a spare?

Brian Prunka - 11-4-2024 at 11:31 AM

I've used the Pegheds pegs, which I think the Knilling are a licensed version of? They're nice.

Personally, I find that if traditional pegs are properly, the weak point on most ouds is the actually the nut - grooves are too deep, the wrong shape/size, have sharp edges that cause breakage or uneven tuning.

If you are fitting the pegs into old holes, the only way to know what size to use is to measure. No one knows what size your peg holes are. The peg holes will likely have to be widened a bit to install the mechanical pegs. Many ouds have wider holes and need viola pegs instead. Are you planning to have a luthier do this?


Doc139 - 11-4-2024 at 12:57 PM

I definitely would habe it done by a luthier or violin maker (the second I did).
I paid something like 300 - 350 Dollar for 11 or 12 Wittner fine-tune pegs and the work alltogether.
Alexander


Jaffa Road - 11-4-2024 at 06:50 PM

Thanks for the info Brian and Doc 139

I would not be doing the work myself - I have a local violin luthier who has done it a small number of times ( maybe once) on an oud. Says violin pegs usually work but will have to measure,

Cost is $22CAN / Whitner peg + ~$150 CAN for the installation. Which would be roughly == to the 300-$350 that doc 139 paid if he paid in USD


Brian do you know if Pegheads is still in business ? - their website looks very antiquated and not displaying properly on a modern computer.