First I want to say hi to all, and that the level of craftsmanship most you exhibit here is very inspiring. On that note I am in the planning stages of my first two builds. The first is a fretless guitar, I'll be starting this one just as soon as the parts that I have ordered from CB Gitty arrive ( it's only been two days since I placed my order and already the anticipation is killing me). The second build I am going to attempt is a fiddle. I am wanting to use a slotted head stock but I would like to use guitar tuners as opposed the pegs that are usually used on violins. I am having a difficult time finding any tuners that I know would work that won't cost in excess of $40. What would be my other options? Could I use standard acoustic or electric guitar tuners; would classical guitar tuners support the tension of the violin strings for that matter would ukulele tuning pegs work?
Any advise would be greatly welcomed.
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You also mentioned wanting to do a slotted headstock on your fiddle project. If you are planning a traditional violin style headstock (the kind with the carved scroll and 4 peg tuners), be aware that guitar tuners won't work because the slot is too wide. However, you can use guitar tuners designed for narrower slots. Most of the instruments I build use a slot about 1cm wide and I have to use the type of guitar tuner where the string hole is located mid-shaft, instead of near the end of the shaft. So, I stock two kinds of guitar tuners depending if I going to mount them on a slotted headstock, or a "flat" headstock.
Guitar tuners should work fine on a Cigar Box Fiddle. They are geared tuners which should be a lot easier to use (tune and hold the tuning) as compared to either tuning pegs or ukulele friction tuners (which are both harder to tune and don't hold the tuning as well as geared tuners). You could even use a 1x4 mandolin tuner as this builder (Diane of Chicago) has done:
There are at least 2 discussion groups on CBN dedicated to cigar box fiddles (or cigar box violins). The first is CB Fiddles managed by Diane in Chicago, an avid CBF builder. Be sure to check out her work. The other group is Cigar Box Fiddlers. You can also search CBN with fiddle related articles and photos to help you perfect your design before starting your build.
-Rand.