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Flamenco guitar is at least 45 years old. Pegs are getting erratic, despite periodic peg dope. Pegs are BRW. Conversion to PegHeds requires some reaming, per manufacturer. Before I do the PegHeds, I thought instead I would try to improve the existing old fashioned ones. So, I need advice. For example, could a light reaming alone be enough? Do the pegs need "sharpening"? Any advice would be appreciated. If reaming or sharpening, what are the recommended suppliers of tools?

FWIW I/ve put in a lot of ebony/rosewood /box wood pegs on vln family instruments. Usually pegs and reamer combo have to match their tapers, a vy slight tapering of the peg hole might resolve the turning problem in conjunction with a tapering of the peg, if there is enough wood left on the peg . When I say slight I mean 1 whole turn on the peg shaver and a vy slight twist in the tapered hole which sometimes goes wonky after repeated wedging action of the peg . I also use some peg dope or chalk where the peg contacts the headstock. If all else fails I would get a plain vanilla set of ebony pegs off e- vil bay . Many chinese sellers. I/ve also used olive wood on a current baritone uke .Light and vy stiff.

I'm a big fan of Pegheds, but they are heavier than wood pegs, so they could affect the balance of an ultra-light flamenco guitar. Still lighter weight than most tuners, though.

Unless you keep the guitar under tight humidity control, wood pegs can be troublesome when the seasons change. If you do adjust the fit, make sure the guitar has been kept in 40-50% humidity for a few weeks, so the pegs and headstock are both fully acclimated. Otherwise they'll just be nice until spring, and then go back to being troublesome in the other direction.

As dennis said whenever the santa anna dry winds kicked up in so cal. all the vln family pegs ususally ebony shrunk and the pegs would unravel

I've used Perfection Pegs in the past and like them very much but for something like that I would probably want to keep the original BRW ones too. Could be possible that some one tried to fix it in the past with the wrong taper?

The Pegs can (eventually) go a little out of round. Providing the hole isn't too large and/or the pegs have enough meat on them you should be able to adjust them to fit. Hopefully they won't sink in too far. I much prefer Rosewood or Boxwood Pegs over Ebony. Ebony always seemed to give me much more trouble in respect to changes in humidity. A good fitting Peg will have a full, glazed band the entire circumference of the peg - where it contacts the corresponding hole. Use Peg dope for sticking pegs, chalk for those that slip. Sometimes neither is needed, dependent on the Peg/wood combination.
Here's a little write up on fitting friction Pegs:

http://www.classicalguitardelcamp.com/v ... ction+pegs

The pegs have never been reworked. I think they have just worn unevenly and also there were times when I probably did not put the right goop on them.

They go out of round over time, with respect to changes in humidity and the differing grain direction wears slightly different. Try sanding a Peg when it's spinning in a lathe, it will end up slightly out of round.

I've used Pegheads on classical guitars and they work fine. The issue about the weight on flamenco guitars is not so much that they affect the balance, but that the extra mass changes the sound. Not by much, but if you're into the real Blanca sound, every bit of mass makes a difference.

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Trevor Gore, Luthier. Australian hand made acoustic guitars, classical guitars; custom guitar design and build; guitar design instruction.

http://www.goreguitars.com.au