DIY guitar strings ?

[Dr Sunshine]

anyone smelt their own metals and stuff yet?

whats the best ore to use?

[mumford]

I know you're making a joke, but I knew a guy who had a string winding machine and made his own.

[Phil O'Keefe]

Like many things in DIY-land, it's much cheaper to just BUY the darned things... but saving money isn't really what DIY is all about. It's more about a fun project, the satisfaction of building it yourself (and knowing HOW TO FIX IT if it should happen to die on you - don't discount the value of that!), as well as the ability to customize and build what you specifically want.

But buying a string winder and making your own strings? That takes it to new extremes of "not cost effective or worth the time and hassle" IMO. ;)

[aclarke]

If you've got a double locking trem, you could get away with buying spools of "musical instrument wire" from a wire manufacturer.

I looked into this a few years ago when I came across the stuff in a vendor's catalogue. It worked out to be around $0.50 per complete string change (all six strings).

I couldn't be arsed though.

[hyperstationjr]

Once strung up a guitar with Galvanized steel wire, probably 1/8th inch thick? maybe a little less, don't remember... I tried to tune it... it was real fun for a while but really it just made a "BFFRAAATT" noise...

[phaeton]

Originally posted by Phil O'Keefe
Like many things in DIY-land, it's much cheaper to just BUY the darned things... but saving money isn't really what DIY is all about.

True!

Originally posted by Phil O'Keefe
But buying a string winder and making your own strings? That takes it to new extremes of "not cost effective or worth the time and hassle" IMO. ;)

Also true. But someday I should dig out the pics of the fishing line/weedeater cord string winder I made out of Lego when I was 15

;)

[Phil O'Keefe]

Also true. But someday I should dig out the pics of the fishing line/weedeater cord string winder I made out of Lego when I was 15

I have more problems with weedeaters than I care to admit, and I hate dealing with winding line - if you ever go into production on that, let me know - I'll buy one. ;) :D

[phaeton]

Originally posted by Phil O'Keefe
Also true. But someday I should dig out the pics of the fishing line/weedeater cord string winder I made out of Lego when I was 15

I have more problems with weedeaters than I care to admit, and I hate dealing with winding line - if you ever go into production on that, let me know - I'll buy one. ;) :D

;)

Is there a future for self-wound nylon strings, though?

Doubtful. The strings sounded horrible, the plank of rotten barn wood i put them on sounded horrible, and the piezo buzzer element I embedded into it for electrification sounded horrible.

Oh, and I played it through a horrible sounding Quantum Terminator 25R.

But it was fun!


I've got plans for a Lego pickup winder that I drew up a number of years ago, I just haven't done anything with it yet :(