jimbo1970
Oud Admirer
Posts: 1
Registered: 12-24-2013
Location: Taiwan
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frozen pegs
Hi all,
I got my oud a few weeks ago. It is a Turkish oud and coming to the nice ultra humid climate that is Taiwan, the tuning pegs have frozen. I have found
a work around of sorts where I place the oud in front of a heater for about 10 minutes. This is a temporary fix as after a few hours, the humidity
causes them to swell up again. I am afraid of removing the pegs as I fear they will get swollen and never go back in their place.
There is a lack of oud luthiers, or luthiers of any kind here, so is there a DIY project that more or less permanently cures the problem?
Thank you so much!!
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Jody Stecher
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1373
Registered: 11-5-2011
Location: California
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Hill's Peg Compound will probably help. Ask local violinists and cellists what they do for instruments whose pegs and peg holes were not made in
Taiwan.
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DoggerelPundit
Oud Junkie
Posts: 141
Registered: 7-28-2010
Location: Pacific Northwest
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Jimbo,
If Hill's is not available, plain talcum powder is a good substitute; at least Viken Najarian thinks so. In either case, only a little is
necessary.
BTW, assuming your pegs are ebony or one of the other super-hard peg woods, the swelling is happening mostly in the wood of the headstock. If this
wood swells enough against the harder peg, it can split, leaving you with one or more untuneable strings, and needing real work by a real luthier.
my 2 cents.
-Stephen
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Brian Prunka
Oud Junkie
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Registered: 1-30-2004
Location: Brooklyn, NY
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Jimbo, here is what I suggest you do first:
loosen the pegs as you describe (be careful, though, as heat can also loosen the glue that holds the oud together), and pull the pegs halfway out of
the holes. No need to remove the strings. Then leave it for several hours until they go (or as mentioned by Stephen, more likely the pegbox goes) back
to "normal".
Then push them back in and tune the oud back up. The swelling I suspect is not so severe that the pegs will no longer fit at all, they just shouldn't
be as far in as they were in the drier climate where the oud was made. If they don't fit, a peghole reamer can widen the holes slightly, but I doubt
this will be necessary.
As Stephen says, the bigger concern is that the headstock may split if you leave them pushed far in as they are now.
A little peg compound is not going to hurt, either, but I think the above steps will for the most part "re-set" your oud to the new climate.
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Dr. Oud
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1370
Registered: 12-18-2002
Location: Sacramento, CA, USA
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First DO NOT HEAT the oud for any reason as you are risking damage to other parts. If a peg is frozen, it usually can be loosened by pushing on the
small end or in extreme cases, tapping the small end lightly with a small hammer.
Talcum powder will only help pegs that slip, not ones that are sticking. Peg dope is best, but sticky pegs can be treated by rubbing the shaft where
it contacts the peg box wall a small amount of dry soap or graphite from a pencil. The peg will have to be removed in order to get the peg dope,
talcum, soap or graphite on the areas where the peg is in contact with the wall. It will be easiest to take all the strings off, (noting the sequence
for re-stringing) but leave the pegs in the holes while treating each peg. Each peg must go into the hole it came from or there can be a misfit and no
amount of dope can fix that.
Another cause of sticking pegs is if the string is bunched up against the wall inside the peg box. Guide each string onto the peg so that the string
does not jam against either side and does not cross over other strings either.
DO NOT try to ream the holes, this is an operation for an expert luthier with peg fitting experience. A violin repair technician can help with this,
but it should not be necessary.
After treatment, replace the strings in the same sequence, starting with the string that was first in the peg box. The pegs should be loose as you
tune the string up to pitch, and pushed in as the string reaches pitch to hold the string in tune.
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Brian Prunka
Oud Junkie
Posts: 2939
Registered: 1-30-2004
Location: Brooklyn, NY
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Mood: Stringish
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I assumed that since it is wintertime he just meant that he was warming the oud up to normal room temperatures. You're right of course to clarify
that he should not particularly heat the oud—rereading his post it does seem like that could be what he is doing.
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