save money, save strings! cheap trick content!

[eddiewagner]

hi guys, i gottta share this. i change strings back and forth on my guitars and cant afford a fresh set all the time. specially fat auges for slide have quite a long lifespan.
to make things easier to fiddle through the bridge, i discovered 30 minutes ago that an empty shaft of a ballpen works wonders. stick it trough, put string in from behind, fidlle both back out: presto!!!!!!!
i dont know if i invented something with a commercial potential or if have been just too stupid to do it till today....

[yegbert]

You mean one of these?


That sounds clever. I'll have to hunt one to try. Lately I've been trying to save and reuse strings on the same guitar after parts swaps, and it can be a pain getting them back through the STB holes.

[eddiewagner]

exactly like that one. just cut the tip off. do it and your pain is cured.

[appar111]

Nice tip! I'll have to start doing that when experimenting w/ string gauges in the future-- makes it alot easier!

[eryque]

I think it's absolutely guaranteed that you could get StewMac to market that as a special gizmo and charge five bucks for it :)

[kingbee]

be sure it's empty of ink!

[SteveY]

Why would people who can't afford strings BUY one?

[bwanasonic]

You might want to try small cocktail/ coffee stirrers. Some of these are like very small diameter straws. If the sleeve doesn't need to be flexible, you could try a short length of brass tubing - I think it comes in pretty small diameters, and is available at craft/ hobby stores.

Kerry M

[yegbert]

Originally Posted by bwanasonic

You might want to try small cocktail/ coffee stirrers. Some of these are like very small diameter straws. If the sleeve doesn't need to be flexible, you could try a short length of brass tubing - I think it comes in pretty small diameters, and is available at craft/ hobby stores.

Kerry M

The ink pen refills I found and tried were too big to get through the STB holes in a vintage bridgeplate.

I found a plastic coffee stir stick that works. It's smaller diameter than the pen refill but thick walled so it's just the right diameter and stiffness. I used it on a Squier Tele I had converted to vintage bridge and angle-drilled to reposition just the top end of the STB holes, so the STB hole has a bend just past the ferrule. I insert the stir stick from the top, rotate it when I reach the bend and then it comes through.

The 42 guage wound string of my 9-42 roundwound set is a snug fit in the end of the stick.

[teledude66]

I thought you meant Cheap Trick the band content...

[ehawley]

and I thought that I was the only one who used coffee straws!!??

[BritishBluesBoy]

Originally Posted by teledude66

I thought you meant Cheap Trick the band content...

Me too...

[GTO]

I can see it all,..... a posh box twenty times bigger than it needs to be, a certificate of authenticity, some instructions, a waiver, and a TDPRI 50th Anniversary Medallion, oh, and a bit of plastic tube. The marketing opportunities are endless. I'd get a patent lawyer in tow now, its a great idea.

[casterway]

Here's that Cheap Trick content...

[gumbo]

...the Threadacaster???