Machinehead Designs for Composite Chordophones
From “Inside the Bass¨ in The Bass Handbook
Also known as […] tuning pegs, they keep your bass in tune and secure the string in place. Think of them as winches working on the worm gear principle. Two common types are found: open-geared and enclosed.
These two types of machineheads or tuning pegs (refer to 20241215165631-Composite_Chordophone_Hardware_Components), open-geared and enclosed, can be explained thusly (Ashton 2005, 23):
- Open-geared machineheads / tuning pegs “is the oldest design,¨ and is “easy to use because of their large ‘buttons´.¨ However, the quality of this type of machinehead or tuning peg can vary greatly. Certain instances of open-gear machineheads or tuning pegs can be very useful for drop-tuning a bass guitar (though this could require adjustment of the string gauge to maintain string tension).
- Enclosed machineheads / tuning pegs offer a “gear wheel and worm shaft¨ that “are sealed into a maintenance free housing.¨ They are usually “smaller and more compact than the traditional open gear styles,¨ affecting balance and making it “a sensible upgrade to a bass.¨
| enclosed | open-geared |
|---|---|
| - Smaller and more compact - Improved balance - Does not allow for drop-tuning - Slightly less ease of use | - Bigger and less compact - Less balanced - Allows for drop-tuning to exact pitch - Slightly more ease of use |
open-geared_tuners enclosed_tuners open-geared_machineheads enclosed_machineheads chordophone_machineheads chordophone_tuners string_instrument_machineheads string_instrument_tuners musicology
bibliography
- Morrish, John, ed. “Inside the Bass.” In The Bass Handbook: A Complete Guide for Mastering the Bass Guitar, 1st ed., 11-44. San Francisco, CA: BackBeat, 2005.