I just bought an electric violin on ebay. I am having trouble with the tuning
pegs. They will not hold the strings. I already broke a string and needed to
restring. I am a novice player. Is this usual when you tune for the first time?
What can I do to help the pegs hold tighter?

Thanks for your help.

Becky

Hi Becky,

I don`t know about electric violins in particular but as far as i am aware the tuning peg design is the same.

Try pushing the peg in as you tune. I take it you have adjusters as well? unscrew those as far as possible before you start, then tune on the pegs until you are near the pitch, finish off by using the adjusters to get right up to pitch.

If you`ve alrady broken a string, you may be trying to tune too high: are you sure you are tuning to the correct pitch?

Liz

Thanks Liz!
I think I`m tuning ok- I`m using a tuner. I will try pushing the pegs a bit-
I did a little web browsing on tuning for the first time and the site I found
did mention slipping pegs. They suggested peg paste if the pegs will not hold.
Have you used this before?

Thanks
Becky

Peg paste does all sorts of wonders and is undoubtedly worth a try, though I`ve only ever used it for stuck pegs.

What sort of electric violin did you buy? I mean, what brand?

Liz

Hi Liz-
The violin is a Grand. It was inexpensive- I hope not too inexpensive.
I bought it to use as a silent violin when I practice. I live in
an apartment and the noise travels.

Maybe I`ll stop and get some peg paste tonight.

Thanks again for your help!
Becky

Right, just found it.

There is one other possibility but it isn`t a strong one: we had a violin of this sort of quality (perhaps a little higher) a week or two ago, new from the wholesaler, which actually had faulty peg holes. One of the holes was too big for the pegs. It wasn`t immediately obvious but I kept tuning it and tuning it (because we send all ours ready to play) and the peg just wouldn`t stay, and then I realised that there was no way it was ever going to stay without the peg being bushed (which was of course not an economic option so we just flogged it off to a repairer).

i would think that the chances of this happening on all four pegs would be minimal but if it is just one peg causing the trouble then it might be worth having a good look in case it really is faulty.

liz

Thanks Liz-
I did get frustrated because I have never tuned a new violin before.
It sounds like it takes time to adjust everything. If I don`t get results
tonight I think I will take it in for a look. I don`t want to do any
damage to the violin or my patience. I`ll leave it for the experts.
A little money spent is worth it.

I`ll get back tomorrow and let you know how it goes.

Thanks again!
Becky

How did you get on?

I`m trying to think how you could break a string while tuning - if you weren`t tuning to too high a pitch, did the string break at the peg, or where?

A friend of mine had a string broken recently by the teacher tuning it, and it just failed near the tail end - I`ve never seen such a thing before. The string was fairly new, but had been played on for a month.

Success! The peg paste worked wonders! I think the string may have been faulty. I am now playing an in tune violin and having great fun!

Becky

Help... I bought a new violin. The bridge was out for shipping. What is the correct position for the bridge???

These people who insist on shipping bridge down annoy me. It is completely unnecessary, we have shipped perhap 400 violins, including at least 30 without cases, and never had one piece of damage in transit. All that happens when you put the bridge down is that you make the soundpost more likely to collapse. However .....

http://www.elidatrading.co.uk/settingup.htm

will talk you through the process, which is not difficult.

Liz