Callier-Scollard Violins
Craig Scollard

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Caspari Pegs: Repair Guide for slipping pegs | Callier-Scollard Violins

Caspari pegs work by having a bushing glued into the peg box on the "head" side of the peg. The bushing is made of what I believe is transformer coil material. The Caspari peg then squeezes against the sides of the bushing. The screw at the end adjusts the pressure against the bushing.

How to fix problems with Caspari Pegs or pegs that work in a similar way.

  • The Peg is slipping or is too tight. Tighten up the screw by turning clockwise. Usually you can find a coin that fits into the slot.
  • If it still slips, check to see if the bushing is still glued in. If the bushing slips, simply glue the bushing back in.
  • If after making the screw as tight as possible it still slips, the bushing is too worn out, it's too narrow. You can make a bushing shim out of a fiber material with a hole in the center and the size diameter would be the same size as the bushing. This gives the mechanism enough space to squeeze onto the bushing.
  • You could try the suggestion that Jacob gave in the comment section below.

The bushings can also be removed. Remove the Caspari pegs, then check the bushings and see if you are lucky enough that you can twist out a lightly glued bushing. If not they need to be drilled out. Carefully drill a slightly larger hole. Then keep stepping up the drill until it is just barely under the size of the busing's diameter. Then with just a little bit of bushing left, you can chip out the remainder. It's not really a good idea to ream the bushing out to a normal peg shape because, the material is quite hard and it will wreck your reamer, plus there is usually a little bit of bushing material protruding into the peg box. Leaving that material will chew up the strings.

Once the bushing are out, you can ream the holes to the normal peg shape and then fit oversize pages. Alternately you could use a spiral bushing on the large hole and then ream to a normal peg shape, then you can use normal size pegs.

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Comments (5)
Caspari Pegs
# 5
Wednesday, 10/25/2023
David Moulden
Hello;
my father who was a luthier passed away ahile ago and I found a couple of sets of new, unused Caspari peg sets in his supplys. There are also some bsushing sets as well.
Email me if you are interested.
Removing Caspari pegs
# 4
Wednesday, 01/11/2023
Tom Hosmer Hosmer violins, Fayetteville, NY 13066
Years ago when I worked on school instruments I discovered this technique. Put a #10 or #12 1.5" machine screw through the hole from the inside and fasten it with a nut that is smaller in diameter than the bushing. Being very careful, heat the end of the machine screw with a propane torch. It will heat up the bushing and the white glue will turn loose long before the varnish is affected. Grab the end of the screw with pliers and pull the bushing out. Chuck Herron makes Pegheds (Perfection pegs) that are Caspari replacements, so you don't have to bush the large hole with wood.
www.hosmerviolins.com
replacement Caspari pegs and parts for cello
# 3
Saturday, 12/17/2022
Tim Sparling
Hello-
My wife’s cello has caspari tuning pegs that were installed 45 years ago and we’re wondering if the bushings need replacing? Do you carry these for us to purchase? Maybe a new complete set including pegs is where we need to go.
Slipping issues even with max torque on the screws.
thanks for any help-
Tim for Lynne Tobin
Caspari pegs cello
# 2
Friday, 06/17/2022
Brenda Mann
Are there replacement screws for these pegs? I worry about wearing the groove so they are unable to be adjusted at all. Also I need to replace strings. Do I need to loosen the screws to wind on the strings or put them on as I would a regular peg. If I were to replace the pegs with perfection pegs about how expensive would this be?
Caspari pegs
# 1
Monday, 01/17/2022
Jacob Cralidis
Worked with these for many years. Bushings were made of LE phenolic. If bushing is glued in but peg still slips then you can actually shorten the length of the tightening screw by about a mm or so and it will tighten up again.
Reduction of Caspari screw length
Sunday, 02/13/2022
Craig Scollard
Jacob,
Thanks for the suggestion. I'll give that a try next time I run into a caspari peg that's slipping because the bushing has been worn out a little.
Craig

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