The Tuning Pegs of the Violin & Their Functions

Video Transcript

"Hi! I’m David Kaynor for expertvillage.com. I’m doing a brief discussion of the violin’s pegs the tuning pegs, and I’m using a disassembled violin for this little operation. The pegs are made of some kind of hardwood—in this case they’re ebony, their also made of boxwood and rosewood, and I think some other woods have been used as well. The tapered, maybe a little hard to see in this angle but the peg is narrower at the end and wider up near the grip and the hole in the peg box of the violin, now this maybe interesting shot here, the holes in the violin have the same tapered as the peg. And the result is when the peg is fitted in, if the peg and the hole are properly fitted is no movement, there’s no the peg can’t wiggle from side to side, it just fits in quite snugly and yet turns freely, and then when the string is attached to the peg and the peg is turned, friction will hold the peg in place against the tension of the string. In the standard violin there are four holes in the peg box and each peg is individually fit, so I’m only taking out two at once, so I’ll but them back in the correct holes. In some of the I think medieval instruments like the Viola Del Mora the peg box could actually have as many as 8 or 10 pegs in it, which made for a very long peg box and quiet a heavy instrument, and I think it was a real challenge for the player to balance. But today’s standard violin’s have four, and the scroll is a decorative component, the scroll as far as I know doesn’t serve any significant acoustical purpose, but a scroll is often considered the signature one of the signatures of an individual violin maker."