My [relatively] new Johnny Walker blanca has traditional ebony pegs. He used peg-dope on them, and I followed suit initially, but there remained a very perceptible stickiness and squeakiness to the pegs.

Yesterday when I was changing strings, I recalled an old trick and used Lava Soap instead of peg dope. HUGE difference. The pegs now turn easily and silently. And a single bar of Lava will last a lifetime.

BTW, the newest strings are Savarez "Flamencita". I've never tried them before, but I am pleased thus far. They are inexpensive, and to my ears have an ideal tone, at least on this guitar.

Can i ask what lava soap is ?

It is a heavy duty hand cleaning soap sold in the U.S that contains volcanic pumice.
See Lava Soap

Lucas

Briiliant thanks , is it any good ? apart from the pegs .

Lava soap is popular with mechanics and others with jobs that cause their hands to become especially dirty. It works well in that application, but it is too harsh for everyday use by most people.

I haven't used Lava soap on guitar pegs, but gritty volcanic pumice suspended in slick soap might be just the right combination. I use violin peg dope, but learned the hard way to apply extremely small amounts. Otherwise the pegs slip and it is much more difficult to wipe peg dope off than to put it on, because some of it quickly absorbs into the wood.

-Bob

Bob, my experience with violin peg dope is the opposite. It didn't matter how little or how much I would put on, the pegs would still stick and be very difficult to turn/tune accurately. Conversely, Lava Soap does the trick with a minimal amount applied.

Granted, there is some slight consideration to be given that the abrasive pumice will eventually scour the hole wider, but with the tapered pegs you just press them in a bit deeper. In due time either the peg will have to be replaced or a hole-insert fitted and re-tapped, but under normal conditions that would be many years in the future.

Many different formulations of violin peg dope are available. We may have used different products. Some violinists use rosin, but I tried that before trying peg dope and the rosin made my guitar pegs too sticky.

Lava soap seems like a good and very inexpensive solution. The pegs on my guitars are all working well right now, so there is no reason to experiment, but I may give Lava soap a try next time they slip or stick.

-Bob

I spent a day a few years back at Rik Middletons workshop and i remember him saying he would insert a cone made from a brown paper bag coated in araldite ( epoxy glue ) .This was to stop the headstock from being worn and only the peg would wear .

I was having trouble with pegs sticking a couple years ago and someone suggested lava soap. It made the pegs turn smoothly, but they kept slipping and I couldn't seem to push them in tight enough to hold reliably. I wiped all I could back off and they have been better since, so maybe I used too much.

Mendoza