Patent Application
20130036891
This invention relates generally to stringed instruments, and specifically to a peg turning device for use in tuning stringed orchestral instruments. In particular, the invention relates to a peg-assist or peg turning device for use with stringed instruments in the violin family, and other stringed instruments utilizing a tuning peg and peg box or “pegbox” mechanism.
There are a number of instruments in the orchestral string family such as the violin or fiddle, viola, and cello, ranging up in size to the double bass or contrabass. These instruments are largely hand-made and come in a variety of shapes and sizes to accommodate the player's stature. Violin sizes range from student-sizes, which are quite small, to a variety of standard full sizes.
The viola family is essentially similar to the violin family but is slightly larger. The cello is an even larger instrument and similarly comes in a wide variety of sizes, as does the bass. Other instruments have similar architectures and size ranges, for example the viol or viola de gamba, lira de braccio, and bass violin.
Such orchestral and other string instruments are typically designed with a multitude of strings that extend from the base of the instrument to a wooden peg box comprising a number of wooden pegs for tuning specific strings to a desired frequency. Tuning pegs typically are designed with a thin stem and a flat peg head. The thin stem is inserted into the peg box around which a string is wound. A large flat peg head extends beyond the peg box and facilitates turning the thin stem such that the tension on the string can be increased or decreased. Like the hand-made instruments, tuning pegs are often handmade and are constructed in a wide variety of dimensions and sizes.
Traditional tuning of an instrument involves grasping the flat peg head between the thumb and forefinger and providing a twisting motion. As both the peg box and pegs are constructed from wood material, they are subject to swelling and shrinkage as the instrument experiences different temperatures and humidity. This expansion and contraction sometimes causes pegs to stick and otherwise be difficult to turn. The pinching force required between the thumb and forefinger can also be considerable, and an individual who tunes multiple instruments (e.g., a teacher for a youth orchestra) may experience repetitive motion fatigue or injury, or may discover that the force needed to turn the peg exceeds their strength.
This invention concerns a peg turner for a stringed instrument having a plurality of tuning pegs in a peg box, a method of making the peg turner, and a peg turning device having features of the peg turner. The peg turner has an elongate body portion extending along an axis, with first and second opposing ends. A recess is formed in the first end of the body portion, and a tapered peg turner slot is formed in the recess.
The tapered peg turner slot has an opening on the first end of the body portion, and the opening is sized to accept a selected tuning peg of the stringed instrument. The tapered sides taper inward along the axis from the opening toward the second end of the body portion, and are configured to form a compressive coupling for turning the selected peg about the axis with the body portion of the peg turner. A soft material layer may be provided on an interior surface of the tapered sides, so that the soft material layer forms the compressive coupling.
Some individuals generally have less grip strength than others, and often may have difficulty tuning their or their students' instruments, particularly in summer where the pegs, traditionally made of wood, swell in the peg box. Because of this, turning the pegs can be nearly impossible without a tool and can cause injury even to the healthy hand, because the force needed to turn the peg exceeds the force they can apply without injury. Because of lack of strength or injuries, some individuals may also apply force with their shoulders and/or arms (using compensatory muscles), risking damage to these muscle groups as well. Those with neck injuries, also common in violin and other string players, may also exacerbate these injuries by turning “difficult” or “stuck” pegs.
Because a player bows the instrument with their right hand, tuning pegs are typically turned with the left hand. This is the non-dominant hand for the majority of the population, as well as the vast majority of string players. Further, the peg heads are set at an angle determined by tuning and set-up, rather than by the ideal angle for applying force.
This invention can tune a peg that is set at any starting angle. In addition, grip strength and force decreases with age, yet older individuals are otherwise able to play string instruments because very little force is required. Thus, this device can extend the amount of time that an older individual can play or teach a string instrument.
This invention achieves these advantages and overcomes these difficulties by creating a device with a larger hand grip and a slot that snugly fits over the tuning peg and that fits nearly any size or shape of peg currently available. Incorporation of multiple sized tapered slots accommodates additional instruments or instrument sizes. While the elongated hand grip may be of any shape, it is preferably cylindrical, like a broomstick or screwdriver handle, in either substantially rounded or multi-sided (multi-faceted) form.
A cylindrical or substantially rotationally symmetric handle or peg turner body shape permits a larger area upon which to grasp, providing more torque to twist the peg and tune the instrument. Further, the hand grip handle is grasped about the palm of the hand instead of by a pinching motion between the thumb and finger, increasing the applicable turning force while decreasing stress and strain on the fingers and hand, and reducing the risk of injury to the user.
In various designs and embodiments, this invention relates to a device that assists the ability to tune orchestral instruments. The device generally consists of an elongated handle with a slot. By providing a larger area handle, an alternate and better grip, the device enables movement of “stuck” pegs and reduces or minimizes the possibility of repetitive motion type injuries. This invention may also be designed with a tapered peg slot that engages a wide variety of peg styles and sizes.
In one class of embodiments, this invention relates to a device that slips over the head of an orchestral string instrument peg and eases the ability to turn the peg and tune the instrument. The device generally consists of an elongated handle with a slot. The large area of the elongated handle permits an alternate and better grip that facilitates motion of a peg that has become “stuck” in the peg box and minimizes the possibility of repetitive motion type injuries. Such injuries are particularly deleterious for string players whose method of income relies on the health of their wrists, arms, and hands.
In additional embodiments, this invention is designed with a peg slot that engages a wide variety of peg styles and sizes. To accommodate the wide range of peg sizes, this invention contemplates creating a slot with tapered walls so that a multitude of peg sizes and dimensions fit snugly into the slot.
Smaller and larger versions of the peg turner device that accommodate smaller student size violins and larger instruments such as a cello are also envisioned. These can be combined into a single device, or two or more devices, such that a majority or even substantially all instruments of the modern string family can be tuned with a single turner.
Orchestral instruments are constructed from wood and are subject to scratching and damage. For this reason, it is preferable to cover the inner walls of the slot with a soft material layer such as leather to minimize the chance of damage while using the invention. It is also preferable to cover the top of the turner in a softer material to prevent damage to the peg box.
This invention finds utility in violin shops where many “stuck” pegs that need to be moved without damage to the peg, peg box, or instrument, or injury to the luthier, are often encountered. There is also substantial utility for the student level orchestra conductors such as public school orchestra teachers, who may need to tune up to a hundred string instruments per day as quickly as possible.
This device makes tuning an instrument much faster and more efficient, similar to using a screw driver rather than trying to use one's hands to install screws, but with additional features particularly adapted to the problem of turning pegs to tune, build, repair or maintain a wide range of different stringed instruments. In addition, when new strings are installed on a string instrument it can take days for the tuning to stabilize. This peg tuner helps speed the tuning stability of new strings and also can increase stability of tuning for strings that have already stretched but tend to de-tune frequently. There are no tools currently used in violin shops or elsewhere that have these features and perform these functions, as described herein, to assist in installing, turning or removing any peg in a peg box of a stringed instrument, stuck or otherwise, substantially like the peg-assist or peg turning device of this invention.
Shops, moreover, need to tune instruments all day to show and work on them. The invention speeds tuning and increases stability of strings in general. Solo and orchestral string players also rely on healthy arms, necks, shoulders, hands, thumbs, and fingers for their continued ability to work, and thus take care to avoid putting these muscle groups at any risk. This invention reduces or minimizes the chance of occupational injury and disability for such persons, and provides additional advantages as described below.
A method for creating a peg turner, 10, having a tapered slot, 24, with a soft material layer, 14, is illustrated in
The tapered plug or insert, 22, may then be removed to reveal a tapered slot, 24, for example as formed in accordance with tapered slot 12 of
Instrument pegs come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes depending on the particular type and form of the musical instrument, 25, strings, 26, and peg box, 27, with correspondingly different peg spacing, S. A typical general shape of the tuning peg, 30, for one or more orchestral string instruments (e.g. violins, violas, stringed orchestral bass instruments, and cellos), 25, is shown in
The peg spacing, S, characterizes the diameter of the peg turner shaft. For example, a cello or contrabass sized turner head may in general have a larger diameter than a for a violin or viola, based on the peg spacing, S, and peg width W. Where the pegs, 30, are turned horizinlally, as shown in
Orchestral string instruments are often handmade and are not created with standard shapes and dimensions W, H, and T. Table A below provides a table of peg dimension measurements taken from a sampling of violin and viola pegs. Table B below provides a table of peg dimension measurements taken from a sampling of cello pegs.
The wide variety of measurements in Tables A and B indicates the challenge associated with creating a single slot design that encompasses and accommodates a suitable range of all different peg sizes and shapes. The desired or selected variety of pegs generally falls into three categories: small or student sized pegs, standard sized pegs, and large or cello pegs. A judicious choice of taper angle, a, and slot depth, d, allows the manufacture of peg turners in sizes that accommodate a large percentage of the available instrument pegs.
For example, a suitable slot, 12 (or 24), may have slot width (w) and slot depth (d) of about one half inch to about one and one half inches, or, alternatively, about 10 mm to about 40 mm, in order to accommodate a selected range of violin and viola peg widths and heights as indicated by Table A. Similarly, the slot may have a breadth or thickness (t) of about two tenths of an inch to about one half inch, or, alternatively, about 5 mm to about 15 mm, in order to accommodate a corresponding range of peg thicknesses.
In these designs, the slot width (w), depth (d) and breadth (t) span the range of dimensions for accommodating a peg, 30, with head, 32, at the opening, 36, of the slot, 12; that is, within the dimensions of the soft material layer, 14, at the opening, 36. The fit may be generally snug with respect to the head, or may include a tolerance on one or the other side of about a tenth of an inch or more, or, alternatively, about 1-2 mm, or about 3 mm, or more.
Within the slot, 12, the width and thickness dimensions, w, and d, generally decrease along the slot depth, d, from the opening, 36, and along the tapered walls, 12B, so that the peg, 30, may be accommodated with such a range of different tolerances and snugness of fit for peg width, W, and thickness, T, with respect to the soft material layer, 14. This design, in which the peg turner body, 11, is substantially rotationally symmetric about the rotational axis, provides the required degree of compressive coupling to the head, 32, of the selected tuning peg, 30, and positions the user's hand for the required degree of torque and force transfer from the hand or palm of the user through coupling between the palm and the peg turner body rather than coupling primarily through the fingers and thumb, in order to overcome the static friction and stationary binding forces required to turn “stuck” pegs, 30, with less risk of damage to the head, 32, or shaft, 31, of the peg, 30, and with reduced risk of injury to the user.
In alternative designs, for example as applicable to a violas, cellos, contrabass instruments and other, generally larger (or smaller) stringed instruments, the slot dimensions, w, h, and d, may vary. For example, in cello or contrabass applications, a suitable slot (e.g., slot 12 or 24) may have slot width (w) and slot depth (d) of about one half inch to about two inches, or, alternatively, about 20 mm to about 60 mm, in order to accommodate the same or a different selected range of cello and bass peg widths and heights, as indicated by Table B. Similarly, the slot may have a breadth or thickness (t) of about half an inch to about one inch, or, alternatively, about 10 mm to about 30 mm, in order to accommodate a corresponding range of peg thicknesses.
In each of the above embodiments, manufacturing tolerances vary. In one design, for example, the width, w, thickness or breadth, t, and length or depth, d, of the slot, 12 or 24, may vary by an absolute tolerance, for example about one tenth of an inch or a quarter of an inch, alternatively about 2 mm to about 5 mm or about 8 mm, or more or less, as defined at the opening, 36, of the slot, 12 or 24. In other designs, the width, w, thickness or breadth, t, and length or depth, d, of the slot, 12 or 24, may vary by a relative tolerance, for example about five percent or less, or about five to about ten percent, or about ten percent to about twenty or more, as defined by the width, w, and breadth, t, at the opening, 36, of the slot, 12 or 24, and along the slot depth, d.
The characteristics of the tapered walls, 12B (or 24B), also vary, depending upon design, application and embodiment. In some applications, for example, the tapered walls, 12B, are tapered inward (toward decreasing width, w, and thickness, t), by an angle, α, of about 1 degree or about 2 degrees to an angle of about 5 degrees, or at an angle of about 2 degrees to about 10 degrees, for example at an angle of about 1-2 degrees, at an angle of about 2-5 degrees, or at an angle or about 2-10 degrees.
Alternatively, the tapering is at an angle of about 2 degrees, about 5 degrees, or about 5-10 degrees, or more. More generally, the taper angle, α, may be selected or determined with approximately the same value with respect to decreasing width, w, and decreasing thickness, t, or at different values with respect to decreasing width, w, and thickness, t, as defined along the depth, d, of the slot, 12 or 14, measuring inward from the opening, 36, along the axis of the peg turner.
Similar to the standard sized, one-slot peg turner, the two-sided peg turner slots, 41 and 42, are preferably formed with tapered walls, 12B, with varying taper angles a, as described above, in order to accommodate a wider variety of peg sizes and dimensions. These tapered walls, 12B, are preferably covered with a soft material layer, 14.
It is envisioned that the tapered wall slots, 12, 41, or 42, may be formed in fashions similar to those for the standard sized or other sizes of peg turners, 10. The two sided peg turner, 40, comprises one end, 40A, with a standard size diameter, dimension, or size, and another end, 40B, with a smaller or larger diameter, dimension, or size, that will accommodate the smaller or larger distance between pegs on different student and teacher instruments.
In some designs, a knurl, groove, or taper, 64, is provided to improve grip, force and torque transfer, between the grip end, 52, and the slot end, 63, as shown in
It is envisioned that peg turners, 10 (or 40, 50, 60 or 70), may be constructed from a wide variety of materials. Molded plastic technology provides a means to quickly manufacture a multitude of peg turners at low cost. There are a great variety of wooden materials that provide unique appeal and aesthetically pleasing feel, combined with structural and machining advantages. Exotic woods, such as ebony and rosewood, are commonly used as the base wood material for orchestral instrument pegs and are prized by instrumentalists because of their superior strength, hardness and durability. Metal materials, such as steel or copper, also provide enhanced strength and durability.
It is envisioned that aesthetically pleasing and structurally or functionally enhanced designs such as those illustrated in
Similarly, a multi layered pattern turner, 100, may be created as illustrated in
One challenge with incorporating various layered or cross designs in the peg turner is that the resultant glue joints used in other designs may weaken the overall hand or palm grip structure.
Several methods are envisioned to form a preferred soft material layer coated tapered slot peg turner device. The preferred method consists of creating an elongated handle with a palm grip and then forming an ovate cylindrical or oblong slot. A tapered plug or forming insert element covered with a soft material layer is inserted into the ovate cylindrical hole that is at least partially filled and coated with a hardening resin, epoxy, glue, or other bonding or filling material. After the hardening resin or other material sets to a solid form, or after suitable bonding and tapered slot wall shaping is achieved, the tapered plug or form element is removed to reveal a tapered slot that has a soft material layer.
An alternate method to form a tapered peg slot turner is to create a specially designed plastic mold and resin or other material for forming at least one of the peg turner body, one or more slots, and one or more knurls, grooves, tapers, cross patterns, laminated portions or other features. In some designs the peg turner is formed with a substantially one-piece body portion, and in other designs additional machining, lathing, binding and other steps are included to form or attach one or more of the slots and grip or other turning features. Another possible method to form a tapered peg slot turner is to use specially designed tapered drill bits or tools to form the slots, and to provide for reinforcing rods or other structural features. Alternately, a computer controlled milling machine could be used to form one or more of a peg turner body, tapered slot, knurl, groove, taper grip, and cross or multi-layered friction feature, in any combination with the other features described above.
An additional example of a peg turner, for example peg turner, 120, configured as or similar to peg turner 10, 40, 50, 60, 70, 90, or 100, above, is shown in
The peg turner, 120, may be provided with one or more peg turner slots, for example one or more peg slots 12, 24, 41, 42, 53, and 61, above, of various sizes and dimensions, as provided in one or both opposing ends, 40A and 40B, of the peg turner body. The sides, 121, may be provided on one or both of the ends, 40A and 40B, and may be substantially regular and planar, shown in
In further examples, a knurl, taper, or other grip feature, 64, may be provided between the opposite ends, 40A and 40B, in order to improve force and torque transfer. In addition, either end 40A or 40B may be larger or smaller than the other, for example a larger grip end and a smaller slot end, or vice-versa in order to accommodate different hand and tuning peg sizes and configurations, or to improve ergonomic performance and reduce stress on the user. Alternatively, the opposite ends, 40A and 40B, may be of substantially similar size.
In additional aspects of the invention, a peg turner is provided, comprising a handle and a slot formed on one end. The peg turner may be provided wherein the slot is formed with tapered walls. The peg turner may be provided wherein the slot is covered with soft material layer. The peg turner may be provided wherein the soft material layer is leather, wherein the soft material layer is rubber and wherein the soft material layer is latex.
The peg turner may be provided wherein the slot is sized to accommodate a variety of standard violin or viola pegs, wherein the slot is sized to accommodate a variety of student size violin pegs and wherein the slot is sized to accommodate a variety of cello pegs. The peg turner may be provided wherein the handle incorporates a keychain, wherein the end of the handle with the slot is covered with a soft protective cap and wherein the opposing end of the handle also contains a slot.
A method for forming a tapered peg turner may comprise: forming a peg turner handle; forming an ovate cylindrical slot; partially filling said slot with a hardening resin; inserting a tapered plug into said partially filled slot; allowing said hardening resin to set; and removing said tapered plug. The method may be performed wherein the tapered plug is covered with a soft material layer prior to insertion into said partially filled slot.
While this invention is described with reference to exemplary embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made, substantial equivalents may be substituted, and modifications may be made to adapt the teachings of the invention to additional applications, materials and situations, without departing from the spirit and scope thereof. The invention is thus not limited to the particular examples that are disclosed herein, but encompasses all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.
This application claims priority to Alsmeyer et al., U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/ 574,899, filed Aug. 11, 2011, entitled PEG-ASSIST ORCHESTRAL PEG TURNING DEVICE, the entirety of which is incorporated by reference herein.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61574899 | Aug 2011 | US |
