All right, i know most serious violist/violinists are perfectly happy with an instrument that has not been improved since the17th Century, but come on, for those of us who are only casual players isn t time to bring the damn fiddle into the modern world? Wooden tuning pegs are insane. I ve just spent fifteen minutes retuning my viola because the pegs slip anytime the humidity changes. This is a constant fight with both my fiddle and my viola. OTOH, my guitars, basses, mandolin and every other instrument I own stay in tune just fine. What s the difference? We guitarists ditched wooden pegs a century ago. A few simple tweaks to the violin, primarily getting rid of the scroll and replacing the archaic tuning system with simple, efficient and affordable metal tuners would go a long ways toward improving the instruments playability. No more slipping, sticking or fine tuners needed.
Some electric violins have already gone this route. Isn t it time acoustic violins and violas do the same?
Okay, I m done grumbling now! ;)
Robert J2016-04-28T13:11:52Z
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You can get "modern" versions of violins, violas, cellos etc. generally sold as the "Electric" versions.
They actually do make tuning machines for violins to directly replace the pegs. Double basses use machines all the time. I can say that every classically trained violinist I've ever met, and that's a LOT, use the traditional system. If they don't like it they don't seem to complain. I think once it's working correctly and you know how to do it, it's not a real problem. I can see the strings costing a little more because they are more complex than a simple wire guitar string.
ADDED: BTW, the ukulele is another instrument that uses simple friction pegs. 100 years ago the ukulele was all the rage and they made them by the millions. They used wooden pegs and friction pegs even though machine tuners were in vogue for guitars. Today you see guitar machines on ukuleles, but that's recent. Tuning machines throw the balance of the instrument off.
First of all, the violin was upgraded in the early 1800's.
If your instrument was in proper condition it would not take 15 minutes to tune. Obviously either the pegs and holes don't match properly or you are too inexperienced to tune. A properly set up and functioning violin only takes minutes to tune, even if it is far out of tune. When you see an orchestra tune, they do it in 30 seconds or less. Gears only work well with steel strings, they don't function for gut or synthetic. Gears on the end of the peg box would add considerable weight to an instrument that you have to hold up with your neck and chin. Internally geared pegs are available and have been for at least 15 years, just look - Knilling Perfection Pegs and Wittner Fine Tune pegs are two options and both are much more "modern" than the machine gears on guitars which haven't been really "modernized" in decades.
Just because you don't know, doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
Thanks for all the replies, everybody. I love the input, but I have to say I'm still not convinced. It seems the only answers are A: pay a huge amount of money for even a student grade instrument, or B: Pay large amounts of money to have a cheap violin/viola fixed so that it will actually stay in tune. This is counter-intuitive to me, especially since the rest of the stringed world moved on to mechanical tuners ages ago, including many of the better quality electric violins being built today. It just strikes me that the weight of tradition more than anything else is all that keeps those blasted wooden pegs in place.
If you have a decent quality instrument with pegs that were properly fitted you won't have those problems. I haven't had a problem with wooden pegs since I gave up the instrument I rented in seventh grade.
There are guitar-style or geared tuning systems for violins and violas, but everyone I know who has tried them hates them. They don't seem to work nearly as well with violins as they do with guitars.