Vortex (musical instrument making)
As vertebrae are in stringed instruments , the rotatable pegs or metal pins on which the string ends are rolled up, respectively. With their help, the tension of the strings can be changed and the instrument can be tuned . The area where the vertebrae are attached is called the peg box or headstock . The pegs of pianos, grand pianos and keel instruments sit in the wooden sound post. The end of the peg box with string instruments is the carved snail .
Today, modern string instruments usually also have fine tuners , so that the pegs are only used for coarse tuning. The wooden pegs - made of ebony in good quality - are made by pegturners, for whom there is a separate professional profile up to the master's examination. Artfully designed inlays made of gold, silver or ivory in the peg heads were particularly popular in the first half of the 20th century.
Depending on the type of pegs, they can be turned by hand, as is the case with the violin , for example ; with other instruments you need your own tuning key (e.g. piano , zither ). On certain instruments, the pegs are turned by a tuning mechanism . For the violoncello there are already pegs with integrated gears that make an additional fine tuner superfluous.
In instruments with a neck , the vertebrae are differentiated according to their position in relation to the vertebral support. There are:
- Forward vertebrae, for example on the fiddle
- Rear eddies, for example on the guitar
- lateral pegs, for example on the violin
With stringed keyboard instruments such as harpsichord , fortepiano , piano, etc., the pegs are also called " tuning pins" because they are made of metal and are hammered into the sound post . The visible upper side of the sound post, in which there are over 200 pegs on a modern concert grand , is also called the “vortex field”.
Before the First World War, the climatic health resort of Wernitzgrün in the Vogtland Musikwinkel with 20 turneries was the main location for the production of pegs for string instruments.
literature
- Technological dictionary. Edited by Otto Ludwig Hartwig, volumes 73–74, p.664