Pegbox (Fr. cheviller; Ger. Wirbelkasten; It. cassa dei bischeri)
- David D. Boyden
Extract
(Fr. cheviller; Ger. Wirbelkasten; It. cassa dei bischeri)
In violins and bowed string instruments generally, the wooden box-like structure, generally open on top (sometimes partly or wholly open at the back as well), into which are fitted the tuning-pegs that hold the strings and regulate their tension ( see Violin , fig.2). In most bowed string instruments, the wooden pegs are inserted laterally into the pegbox; that is, the holes for the pegs are bored in the sides of the pegbox, and the tapered pegs run from one side through the other side of the pegbox, the shank of the peg being at right angles to the string.
In some bowed strings, as in the lira da braccio, the pegs are not lateral but frontal, the pegs being inserted not at the side but from the front (top) downwards, the pegbox being open below ( see Lira da braccio , figs.1 and 2). This type of pegbox is often leaf- or heart-shaped. In the case of frontal pegs whose pegheads are on top, the strings are strung either directly to the peg-shanks on top, or the strings run through holes, bored just above the nut, down to the peg-ends below....
