Knilling Bucharest Violin #39 Outfit with Perfection Pegs Made in Europe

THE CHALLENGE OF TUNING

Most players will admit (and earlier attempts also attest), that tuning with the friction peg leaves considerable room for improvement. String adjusters, which can help, add mass where it should not be, can be functionally problematic, and can damage the instrument. And in the end, they do not address the problem of a slipping or stuck peg. An enduring solution would require care and consideration for tradition, for the instrument’s structure, and for the musician. This basic idea lies behind the inventor’s creation, and Knilling’s support, of this remarkable innovation.

PIONEERING USE OF TECHNOLOGY

When synthetic-core strings were first introduced in the mid twentieth century, they were widely portrayed as unfit replacements for the gut-core strings most advanced players were using at the time. Today, however, high-tech strings — synthetic-core and otherwise — have widely displaced gut-core strings for both amateur and professional string players. That early reaction to new innovations is rather typical of the traditional mindset that often characterizes string players and indeed, many in the string industry, even today. For this and other reasons, we understand that the introduction of a new system for tuning, no matter how good, or how revolutionary, takes time. However, due to the extraordinary set of tuning and maintenance problems they solve for players, educators, and retailers who serve them, acceptance and demand for Perfection Pegs has become widespread, and its usage by professionals and students alike expanding exponentially. The Perfection planetary mechanism is now in growing demand for use on an ever-expanding list of traditionally friction pegged instruments, including the viola da gamba, aoud, sitar, flamenco guitar, viola d’amore, ukulele, mandolin, and others. In fact, virtually any instrument that incorporates friction wood pegs can benefit from Perfection’s planetary mechanism.

RESPECT FOR TRADITION

In the string world, changes in the instrument’s music, methodology, and making, are often challenged before they are embraced. And yet the history of the violin, a veritable icon of tradition, is also a history of significant innovations in response to the needs of the player and advances in technology, which have increased the utility and musical potential of the instrument, and extended the creative reach of the musician. Who, today, really plays the violin of four centuries ago? Consider: alterations to the instrument have included the addition of the chinrest, a longer neck, adoption of the shoulder rest, a steeper and longer fingerboard, more robust and longer bass bar, composite tailpieces, a nylon tailpiece loop, and a differently carved bridge. With the shift away from gut strings, the raise in pitch, and the introduction of the steel strings, our tuning mechanism has undergone changes as well, quite notably the introduction of metal string adjusters to the tailpiece. However, a satisfactory solution to slipping or sticking pegs remained unresolved… until the introduction of the revolutionary Perfection Planetary pegs.