One of the guitars in our home got knocked over recently. It had been sitting idle with a broken string for a long time, and the kids were playing around it, bringing it crashing down with an accidental bump.
When I set out to restring it a few weeks after that, I found that the G tuning peg was spinning freely on the head stock. When I pulled it off to check it out, I found that these guitars have a locating pin built into the cast metal housing - and this one was broken off. I didn’t think to take any pictures until I saw my proud handiwork unfortunately.
I searched first for replacement tuning pegs for a Taylor. I imagine if I tired harder I could find one or a set, but I think they try to limit the sale of parts to authorized luthiers or distributors or something. Anyway, I didn’t look that hard and I was excited to see if I could fix the original piece, which ultimately I did.
What I didn’t capture in photograph, I found a drill bit that basically matched the diameter of the rough surface where the pin had broken off. I put the tuning peg gently in a vice and drilled out the pin. The material there was maybe about 3/32” thick and I nicked the worm gear inside.
I threaded a 4mm screw into the newly drilled hole, backing it off after it bottomed out. Once I verified the free movement of the work gear, I let a thin bead of superglue sink into the threads to lock my new pin in place. Finally, I cut the screw to what felt like a good length with a pair of bolt cutters and sanded the burred end.
| Column1 | Column2 |
|---|---|
| Taylor tuning peg with 4mm screw shaft for locating pin. |  |
| Initial fitment test. |  |
| Too large in diameter to set into the locating hole. |  |
| I used a small file to take down the threads and get a better fit. |  |
| My new locating pin is a little too long. I swapped the G and high E tuning pegs, hoping that putting the repaired peg in a place with less exposure might ensure it lasts. |  |
| This also gave me a good opportunity to get an idea for how much length I should take off. |  |
| I used bolt cutters again to trim the pin. |  |
| …in my haste, I cut it a lot shorter than I would have liked. |  |
| But it came out fine :) | |
| Front View |  |
| Back View |  |
I made the rookie mistake of cutting the high E string too short, or I’d have also posted a video here of me playing something. Unfortunately, I’m a slow mover and it’ll be a while before I buy another set.
Until then, thanks for checking it out!
As always, I hope you enjoyed witnessing as much as I enjoyed creating!
© Photos and words by @albuslucimus
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