How to fix a frying pan with pliers

Yes, it’s every musician’s dread – you turn up to gig and the wheel drops off your frying pan!

Let’s face it, a mangled machine head can really mess with your head, and a pernickety tuning peg can take you down a peg or two .

Any of the above occurring just before a gig can really throw a spanner into the works. But if the worst happens, you don’t have to let fate call the tune.

This was the dilemma facing professional musician Skeet Williams when he arrived for a sound check last week only to discover the thumb grip was missing off one of his banjo’s tuning keys.

Now, he could have reached for the aforementioned spanner, had it been small enough or better still, adjustable, because what remained of the tuning key’s shaft had a flat profile.

In the absence of a spanner, someone produced a pair of bull nose pliers which did the job perfectly and helped Skeet keep the banjo pitch perfect all evening – much to the amusement of the audience.