Have you ever found any picks that were as nice as a finger?  After working on this 50 yr. old dulcimer & tuning it as a Baritone,  I find my finger strumming down sounds the nicest - any pick ideas?

Looks nice!

Looks mighty good. Congrats on your good work and learning experience.

@marg Way cool!  Your dulcimer work looks great!  

After spending time working on this 50 year old 'Sears' Christmas Dulcimer. Not knowing what I was doing, I learned a lot as I worked on the gears, knobs (I ended up getting longer screws & a nut for the gears & new black banjo knobs), nut & bridge (glued in & split), strings & a floating bridge up by the bridge to help the tuning up the fretboard - After much experimenting I have it tuned as a Baritone and it sounds lovely. After many tries, a $20. old broken red dulcimer with it's repairs & decorations has a new life and I think it's priceless

Thanks for everyone's help 

black knobs red dulcimer1.jpg  •  519KB

i do realize what i stated would be tapered holes i have to deal with them when i build my gourd banjos

ok now that's a little clearer i was not sure if you were talking about friction pegs or what i do not know what the size of your new tuning machines are but i do know most banjo tuning machine require a 3/8 inch hole to mount them on the banjo not sure about uke tuning machines

Don- unfortunately, a typical hole reamer and a peg shaver are both intended for tapered holes and tapered pegs. We are talking about straight holes for the (straight) metal tuner shaft. A reamer would create a tapered hole in which the metal tuner shaft would then wobble.

Good suggestion Strumelia,  will think about it but don't want to sand a bit more then I should, no redo on the holes. I know about sanding a little at a time, I just did that with the nut and bridge. It's through this site I even knew to use the hair dryer to loosen 50 yr. old glue holding them both. 

Thanks Richard but I don't want to ship the dulcimer, it's not worth the expense but makes a good dulcimer for learning how to repair problems.

You are right Don, learning on my own as I try things out would come with risk of creating a hole to large - planning on going slow and not trying anything I am not ready for. As far as hammering - was not talking about the buttons, they are not a problem but tapping the new gear in - which I decided against. 

Thanks all for the suggestions

I am a banjo player but the @marg your question has confused me

I know on banjos friction pegs you can use a hole reamer and peg shaver to adjust the size of the pegs or adjust the size of the peg head holes either you have to be careful as you can get to big of a hole or to small of a peg

if you are talking about just the buttons on the tuning pegs they are not all the same and no I would not take a hammer and beat the buttons on as they will literally shatter

Some banjo players have successfully enlarged a pegbox hole that was 'a hair' too small by wrapping some fine sandpaper around a pencil and carefully working it back and forth in the hole a little at a time. That would certainly be an option with a dulcimer that is not terribly valuable, and for holes that 'almost' fit your new tuner shafts.

One of the builders on this site might be willing to fix the holes so the new tuning machines will work. Would involve shipping dulcimer and tuning machines and waiting to get it back.

In 2015 I purchase just the buttons (Banjo tuner buttons), they worked fine.

I tried replacing the whole tuner set since I can't keep the tuning from slipping & wanted black buttons.

The new tuners (Uke pegs) do not fit in the wooden hole, they are just a hair too large.  I can't find a shop near me that carries banjo or Uke peg sets, so I thought the Uke ones would work. they don't & not sure if the Banjo ones would or not, so after mixing the the new shaft & black button with the old gear, I'm back to the way it was & the new Uke set is off on the side.

I thought about using violin peg compound on the gears - would that help in holding the tuning or just gum up the hole?

  Running in circles & getting no where other then learning about repair work. I also took the old bridge & nut out (50 years of glue & dirt) and replaced it with new ones, I sanded to fit - good job on that but it took time using hair dryer, mat knife, pliers. & & & 

I'm confused about what you mean:

Did you buy a complete new set of geared tuners, or just the plastic buttons?

Are you trying to replace the whole tuner, or just the plastic buttons?

Is it the buttons that don't fit on the existing tuners?... or the whole new tuner shaft that doesn't fit in the wooden hole?

(rectangular shaft has 2 flat and 2 rounded sides)

The banjo button fit these shafts, does that mean the older tuners are banjo geared tuners or just geared tuners? the Uke tuners are round all around, not 2 flat sides

Thanks Strumelia for your help

My mistake, i did not examin the photo well- those older tuners are not 'planet' or plantetary tuners, they are regular geared tuners.

If you can't see a brand ID on the old tuners, the way i see it is you have two choices: 1) carefully ream the existing holes so that the tuners you just bought will fit,  2) try to find a website that describes various uke tuner shaft sizes, and 3) get an exact measurement of the existing holes diameter so you can look for tuners with the right size shafts to fit the existing holes.

For a dulcimer that is not greatly valuable, i would suggest option #1.  Just my own thoughts.  :)

(amber buttons are very good quality banjo planetary tuners)

The amber buttons (amber, vintage oval shape) were old and brittle and I replaced the buttons years ago (2015) with banjo buttons. Now I need to replace the tuners - can't hold the string tension - slips

The rectangular shaft has 2 flat and 2 rounded sides, does this mean it's banjo pegs & not Uke pegs?

Are all banjo pegs the same size or how do I order ones to fit the holes in the dulcimer?

Those amber buttons are very good quality banjo planetary tuners, that's all I know.

Seems I had replace the buttons before with maybe banjo buttons someone on here had suggested years & years ago, not a Uke peg set but wanted to try a new peg set to hold the string tuning better. I thought the Uke peg set would work & almost did. I found my old photos of the old buttons and the pegs that came with the dulcimer. 

side view.jpg  •  104KB

old knobs.jpg  •  149KB

 6B BlackButton Ukulele Pegs -

red dulcimer pegs.jpg  •  376KB