Improvised rectangular zither peg tuner
Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2015 5:38 pm
To those of us with older zithers, one problem we run into is finding a tuner to fit the older rectangular pegs. Not only are tuners with a rectangular broach hard to come by, they are not uniform varying from about .055 to .068 inches on the flat. I found a work-around for this by installing a set screw in the side of widely available inexpensive (on ebay) square tuners from China. The one I have has a .25 (1/4") square broach. I drilled a .149 (#25) hole perpendicular to the side of the broach. I then threaded it with a 10-24 tap. A 10-24 set screw was cut to the thickness of the wall of the tuner. (It cannot extend much beyond the wall of the barrel because it must clear the adjacent pegs.) Using a hand vise the end was ground square. I think someone with modest machining abilities can do this; but I would emphasize a hand vise must be used with eye protection in grinding the set screw. In using the tuner, the set screw is set to loosely fit over the flat on the peg; you don't want it to stick because it will pull the peg out of tune when you withdraw it. It is really useful when you need to pull a zither peg; you can screw the set screw tight and exert upward pull as you turn clockwise (obviously it is difficult to pull upward with a regular tuner; you need to cock it to one side to do this.) I apologize for the lousy picture; I don't have a macro on my camera.
Dan Symonds
Dan Symonds