Knilling 4/4 size Perfection Planetary Geared Violin Peg Set with Synthetic Head

I bought these for a violin that I've played on for years; it came from a dealer's junk rack, because someone had used the double-bass style tuning machines on it, and the pegbox has a number of little cracks and screw holes. The pegs never did work well, and it's a little unstable, so I thought these would be worth a try. They seem to have solved every peg problem this instrument had! A summary: Good things: the pegs are easy to install and work smoothly. If you're very careful to fit them tightly, you can make them work without glue, which is nice for reversability. They seem to hold up to tension well, and the gearing isn't so low that you have to turn forever to tighten new strings when you're installing them. Bad things: the finish is not perfect. They look like cheap ebony pegs, which isn't what you'd want on an instrument with any sort of pretensions. Luckily, that's not the case with mine.

I love these. They are easy to install yourself, but you must use a correctly angled 4/4 Violin peg reamer, a common machinist reamer is the wrong angle and you will ruin the neck of your violin. It takes just a few turns of the reamer and you're good. I use a sheet rubber lid remover to cinch them down using hand force only. The plastic is durable, but you don't want to put any metal tools on it.. If they don't go in all the way you just ream a little bit more. Make sure and distinguish that there are two right hand threads and two left hand threads. You install them such that string tension tends to tighten them and thus keep them installed. I trim the long ends them by spinning in a drill and using light pressure with a super fine razor saw. The part of the peg in the jaws of the drill gets discarded so you don't have to worry about marring them. Measure twice and cut once. Don't rush, it takes about an hour and you don't even have to replace the strings if you're careful. Tools required: Violin reamer, drill and razor saw. The main benefit is that you can junk all the massive tuners on the tailpiece to let your violin really sing. You may want to adjust the weight on the bridge and the position of the sound post to compensate for the mass change but you don't have to unless you are just really into spectrum, harmonics and voice.

I've had these installed for a year now. I installed them per the instructions and for the life of me, I cannot keep my strings in tune. I put a very small drop of white out on each peg to see if they were in-fact turning and discovered they were. I wanted these to work so very bad, but in the end, they are no better than traditional pegs. If I could return them I would.

I thought that this product was very sturdy and works well but I have some concerns. This product does not fit with Viola's as well as violins. The threading does not even reach the instrument properly. The only way to be able to use these is if you jam in the main body that holds in the gears and then use it in that method. It's surprisingly seems to be holding its tuning. It is definitely much easier to tune with these then regular tuning pegs just because it was made for that (obvious). I think there are some flaws about it and there are some flaws about the description to, but overall, I think this is a great product for anybody wanting an easier time of tuning. Oh, one thing I might mention is that to tune it you must pull the actual inner part of the peg out of its "socket" and then adjusted how you would like. This makes it loose but easier to tune because then there will be no tension that will wreck the locking mechanism. Since there is no through Reading that can bite into the wood, this is why you must take the inner part of the peg out partially so that you can tighten it or loosen it at will. If you do not do this, what shall happen is you will move the entire main body of the peg and then you will half to jam it in again. *see photos with my finger obviously in the way. That is the one where it shows the thing that I am talking about.*

Previously I had paid a Luthier about $300 dollars to have them put in one of my violins. Worked great, but I didn’t want to pay that much to have another set installed in another of my violins. I found these on Amazon and wondered if I could do it. I watched a YouTube video and decided to give it a try. Well, I did it! I had also purchased the tool that enlarges the peg hole. In my case it was necessary because ALL of the threads on the peg must fit into the peg hole for it to work correctly. Enlarging the hole was necessary for it to fit right so the gears in the peg can turn and hold at the position you want. So watch the video, listen closely, take your time and you will be able to do it too!

The directional threaded design is complicated. The tip of each plug is marked with B or T to indicate which side it goes but if you cut off the extra length, then you lose those marks. It is not easy to install. Finally, the push-pull mechanism is not robust. One of my plugs does not stay in tune. If you have a 5-string violin, you won't find a 5th plug for the bass side! I would recommend Wittner plugs instead, because you can find single plugs, they are easy to install like a regular wooden plug and any plug fits on bass or treble side.

I have a violin from 1895 with pegs that had been reamed so many times that it was hard to keep in tune, even with fine tuners. I contracted with a Luthier to put bushings in the peg head and also asked him to install these Perfection Planetary pegs. So far the fiddle has been easy to tune with just these tuners -- no longer a need for fine tuners, I have been told. Time will tell, but so far I am very satisfied with this purchase. As a guitar and banjo player with geared tuners, I feel that regular violins are primitive to not have such types of geared pegs as standard equipment. Obviously, the instrument has not kept up with simple technology that makes it so much easier to tune.