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Hey Brian,
I apologize for reaching out during this chaotic time. I just want to make sure that I don’t make any fatal mistakes when putting the kit togetherr.
My tuning pegs seem tapered, but they seem to be too big to sit easily in the holes. One peg pokes out just enough to comfortably string, but the rest either just poke out or don’t poke through the other side of the head at all.
I did choose the wenge wood option for the pegs. How should I go about getting the pegs to fit?
My well wishes to you and everyone around you right now. I am so excited to have this banjo. I’ve wanted one for quite a few years.
Turner
Hi Turner,
Thanks for your well wishes! I’m finally getting back to work.
I’m sorry about your issue with the pegs.
I normally would double check each peg for fit but it’s possible I did not.
The wenge pegs are slightly bigger than the maple pegs and require a slightly larger hole. So it’s also possible I drilled the wrong hole size.
That being said… if everything is correct: the fifth peg should fit if I did everything right- is this the peg that seems to work properly? If not, don’t force it.
If it’s just the 4 pegs at the peghead that are a problem, you might be able to work them in. The peghead is forgiving here and may require nothing more than a bit of pushing and twisting.
Is there any finish/varnish applied? Are the pegholes clear of varnish? It’s important the pegs are clear of varnish also.
When I hear back, I can offer the next step of care. I can send another set of wenge pegs and make sure they are on the smaller diameter. I can also send a set of maple pegs, because maybe I drilled the wrong holes. I will also give you a refund on the wenge pegs cost.
Thank youHey Brian,
I ended up reaching out to a friend of mine who works in instrument repair. She suggested that I hand-sand the pegs down to size using the 220 and 320 grit sandpaper, and she showed me a technique that I could use to maintain the taper while sanding.
I am happy with what I ended up with and have been playing already! So, no need to send another set of pegs or a refund.
For the sake of anyone who runs into the same problem in the future I will describe what I did.
When placing the pegs into the peg head, the tip of the pegs would only barley crown through the other side of the peg head. The string holes were not exposed. When I applied more force, more would come out, but the string hole was still not exposed. This was also true for the fifth string/thumb string.
This could have been caused by a mismatch in peg size and hole size, or varnish being in the holes. I had already varnished the neck, and though I did my best to keep varnish out of the peg holes, some got into the rim of the “entrance and exit” of the holes.
I took each peg and a long piece of 220 sandpaper about the width of the taper of the peg. I then wrapped the taper of the peg and turned the peg like you would turn a key. This ensures that the tapered sides of the pegs get sanded evenly. I did this until the peg protruded about as far as I wanted it to. Then I sanded again once with 320 grit using the same technique.
In my opinion, a peg should protrude with about a third of its length through the other side of the peg head, however, my instrument repair friend said to be conservative, because the forces of the strings will over time pull the pegs subtly father through the peg head, so be conservative when sanding.
I will be posting a video of me playing the banjo and a few observations about building online soon! I’m very happy with the sound of the instrument
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