cutting strings

[Guest FarnsBarns]

I've been buying cheap side cutters from tool suppliers, auto-jumbles and so on. They only last a couple of years cutting strings before the blades are shot. Before I drop 30 quid on a decent pair I wondered if anyone else has done this, if they last any longer and what other suggestions you might have.

[Andre S]

I've been buying cheap side cutters from tool suppliers, auto-jumbles and so on. They only last a couple of years cutting strings before the blades are shot. Before I drop 30 quid on a decent pair I wondered if anyone else has done this, if they last any longer and what other suggestions you might have.

 

I just use a pair of pliers that have a cutting edge. They are slightly worn, but you just squeeze harder.

[Guest FarnsBarns]

I just use a pair of pliers that have a cutting edge. They are slightly worn, but you just squeeze harder.

 

Yeah, same thing really, guitar strings are tough compared to copper electrical wire. I'd like to buy something that will last. Restringing 3 guitars 4-6 times a year is up to 108 cuts. After I've cut 200 strings with cheap ones they're shot and won't cut E/1 or B/2 any more . But I can by the cheap ones for about 3 quid so a decent pair, at 30 quid, would have to last 10 times longer.

 

It's not a biggie, just wondered if anyone's been down that road before I buy some. The last pair actually went missing so I have none.

[milod]

I've tended to buy several sets of cheapies - that apparently are a lot less expensive in the US than in the UK.

 

Why? Several sit in guitar case "pockets" of instruments I play out. One set at home.

 

Yeah, they're throwaways.

 

m

[icantbuyafender]

I just wiggle/yank the excess back and forth until the string gives way and snaps off at the tuner.

 

Heat builds and weakens the excess string at the bending point.

 

Works on all gauges, and is handy for changing strings without any tools.

[brundaddy]

Cheap snips work well and if you lose them it's no big deal. If I was a professional string cutter, I'm talking cutting 1000 a day, I might think about the fancy ones.

[Guest FarnsBarns]

I just wiggle/yank the excess back and forth until the string gives way and snaps off at the tuner.

 

Heat builds and weakens the excess string at the bending point.

 

Works on all gauges, and is handy for changing strings without any tools.

 

Yeah, but weren't you the guy that carelessly dented your neck. And the guy who has epi GT that developed tuning and action issues. Ever thought about cause and effect?

 

This sounds like mistreatment to me, won't it harm your tuners yanking them back and forth. Also your method relies on metal fatigue (the heat is a byproduct and is not what causes them to break) and will leave you with unnecessarily sharp ends. I also don't want my strings cut off flush with the tuner. When I tune to a major chord they'll probably pull through.

[bluzhammer]

IF you can find them, and that's a big if..... I recommend Klein brand snips. I use them at work and as my string changing snips. They have a wide variety of sizes and are sturdy to a fault.

[Guest FarnsBarns]

IF you can find them, and that's a big if..... I recommend Klein brand snips. I use them at work and as my string changing snips. They have a wide variety of sizes and are sturdy to a fault.

IF

 

That's a big if. ;)

 

I'll look out for them.

[Guest FarnsBarns]

IF you can find them, and that's a big if..... I recommend Klein brand snips. I use them at work and as my string changing snips. They have a wide variety of sizes and are sturdy to a fault.

 

You mean these...

 

http://direct.hobbycraft.co.uk/products-Klein-Box-Joint-115mm-Cutters-Pliers_242490.htm

 

These are cheaper than the ones I was looking at, might be a good half measure. How many guitar strings would you estimate you have cut with yours?

[TommyK]

I'm not sure how much 30 quid is, but that does seem a bit spendy. Get a decent side or end cutter and be done with it. I don't know what brands are available in the UK, but Craftsman, Channel Lock are top notch. I also bought one from a Dollar Store for a buck. It was junk, the strings cut into the cutter so severely, it left holes in the blade the first time out. Guitar strings are very hard. Cheap cutters will not survive. Some store brand hand tools are decent. I bought a 6" side cutters from Menard's (big box home center), ToolShop, I think was their house brand. It is decent enough. I guess I paid less than $10.00 for it. It appeared to me to be substantial enough, so I took a chance. I've seen this same line of tools in other home centers and farm supply stores under different house brand name with different colored grips, but if I were a betting man I'd bet they are are made by the same factory. After you use and see good tools and bad tools, but get an eye for it.

 

No need to keep one in each of your guitar cases. If you are away from home and need to replace a string, just coil up the tag end at the tuner until you get home and can nip it off. Therefore, you only need one, a good one.

[Guest FarnsBarns]

I'm not sure how much 30 quid is, but that does seem a bit spendy. Get a decent side or end cutter and be done with it. I don't know what brands are available in the UK, but Craftsman, Channel Lock are top notch. I also bought one from a Dollar Store for a buck. It was junk, the strings cut into the cutter so severely, it left holes in the blade the first time out. Guitar strings are very hard. Cheap cutters will not survive. Some store brand hand tools are decent. I bought a 6" side cutters from Menards (big box home center), ToolShop, I think was the brand. It is decent enough. I guess I paid less than $10.00 for it. It appeared to me to be substantial enough. After you use and see good tools and bad tools, but get an eye for it.

 

No need to keep it in your guitar case. If you are away from home and replace a string, just coil it up at the tuner until you get home and can nip it off. Therefore, you only need one, a good one.

 

30 Quid is £30 or about $45. (Sorry to use quid but the £ sign is three presses away from the qwerty keys on my phone)

 

$10 seems to me too cheap to be any good.

 

The last ones I bought were ToolShop, the ones that I've lost, they seemed OK but I have been thinking about a more sturdy pair with harder blades. The real point of the thread was to find out if 10 times the price would equate to 10 times the longevity or not.

 

I think I'm gonna go with these http://direct.hobbyc...iers_242490.htm about $22, if they're not much better than the cheap ones I'll buy a pair of cheap ones every couple of years for the rest of my life and be done with it.

[milod]

It's my observation that sometimes price is a guide to quality, sometimes it ain't.

 

That may be the case especially with tools.

 

It also hit me that tools of various sorts must be far more expensive in the UK than in North America. Were I to pay 30 quid or $45 US for 4-inch sidecutters for strings, they'd best be gold plated as well as properly-treated steel.

 

Waitaminit... Isn't one of our members employed by a major tool manufacturer in the US?

 

m

[WahKeen]

I use my teeth....

 

[Namvet]

Got a pair of side cutters I've had for years. Gave about $10 for them and they still snip the string ends off without and problem. The cutters are hardened steel.

[Guest FarnsBarns]

Were I to pay 30 quid or $45 US for 4-inch sidecutters for strings, they'd best be gold plated as well as properly-treated steel.

 

Yeah, it sounds wrong doesn't it, exchange rates aren't that simple though because they do not reflect what people earn, further more some things are more expensive in a given country than others.

 

Interestingly I met an economics professor who said, when you go on holiday the way to work it out is look at staples, he suggested beer and bread, to calculate the real exchange rate.

 

All that said, yes, decent hand tools are much more expensive over here!

[TommyK]

30 Quid is £30 or about $45. (Sorry to use quid but the £ sign is three presses away from the qwerty keys on my phone)

 

$10 seems to me too cheap to be any good.

 

The last ones I bought were ToolShop, the ones that I've lost, they seemed OK but I have been thinking about a more sturdy pair with harder blades. The real point of the thread was to find out if 10 times the price would equate to 10 times the longevity or not.

 

I think I'm gonna go with these http://direct.hobbyc...iers_242490.htm about $22, if they're not much better than the cheap ones I'll buy a pair of cheap ones every couple of years for the rest of my life and be done with it.

 

If you insist on keeping a pair in your guitar cases and you lose them before getting ten uses out of them before losing them (away from home I presume) then maybe that makes sense. But if you keep them at home in your shop, always spend a little more for better quality. They'll last a life time. Just be sure you lock up the 'good' tools. Of the most pilfered of my tools, I have always had two sets. One to keep under lock and key, never to be loaned or borrowed with my knowledge, and those I loan, or unlocked and more easily borrowed without my knowledge. The loaners are always the cheap stuff.

 

Rules for good tools are the same for guitars:

1.) Never borrow my tools/guitars without asking first.

2.) Don't ask.

[daveinspain]

I don't think a good pair of side cutters would be a waist at all... Good tools mean work well done, no accidental dings in your guitar either... Of course you need to be careful with any tools in your hands while around your guitar but cutters that don't cut well drive me nuts!

[icantbuyafender]

Yeah, but weren't you the guy that carelessly dented your neck. And the guy who has epi GT that developed tuning and action issues. Ever thought about cause and effect?

 

This sounds like mistreatment to me, won't it harm your tuners yanking them back and forth. Also your method relies on metal fatigue (the heat is a byproduct and is not what causes them to break) and will leave you with unnecessarily sharp ends. I also don't want my strings cut off flush with the tuner. When I tune to a major chord they'll probably pull through.

 

glad you keep up with me. :)

 

there's no harm done when it's just the excess string that you clip anyhow that goes beyond the tuner anyhow. A good few wraps around the post prevents slipping. Think about it before you open you mouth... Or type condescending

remarks.

The dent was an accidental mark left by a guitar that fell into the other. The GT needs a fret crowning and is in the tech's shop as we type. It had never since it's purchase date been rid of buzz. So "developed" is a term coined by you. Essentially jumping to conclusions. Rude ******.

[Guest FarnsBarns]

glad you keep up with me. :)

 

there's no harm done when it's just the excess string that you clip anyhow that goes beyond the tuner anyhow. A good few wraps around the post prevents slipping. Think about it before you open you mouth... Or type condescending

remarks.

The dent was an accidental mark left by a guitar that fell into the other. The GT needs a fret crowning and is in the tech's shop as we type. It had never since it's purchase date been rid of buzz. So "developed" is a term coined by you. Essentially jumping to conclusions. Rude ******.

 

Well, I'm sorry if I offended, you're quite right on the Epi front, I just hunted out the post. I had jumped to the conclusion that the buzz had developed over time when I read it/in my memory.

 

I don't keep up with you :) I just have an annoyingly good memory (Annoying to me) for these things.

 

On the bending of strings back and forth over the opening of the hole in the tuner to break them, I really do think this is a bad idea. You can't possibly do that without putting some load on the tuner, and IMO a half inch or so of string sticking out is just better.

 

As I say, sorry if you took this to be rude, it's impossible to type tongue in cheek tone and I should probably have not typed it knowing that. Sorry!

 

Was it because you were offended by this that you rudely called me a kid in "the other thread". If so, it's forgiven, if not, your a rude ****** too! (That's tongue in cheek as well).

[Jeff-7]

I just use tin snips.

[milod]

If I may play a sort of peacemaker here...

 

South Texas and the UK have rather different modes of talking, both seriously and in jest... and when written rather than spoken, it's easy for one schooled in one mode to take offense at written words from the other.

 

That's true not just of guitar forums. I'm on a couple of relatively "intellectual" history/philosophy forums that have brought similar responses...

 

m

[Guest FarnsBarns]

If I may play a sort of peacemaker here...

 

South Texas and the UK have rather different modes of talking, both seriously and in jest... and when written rather than spoken, it's easy for one schooled in one mode to take offense at written words from the other.

 

That's true not just of guitar forums. I'm on a couple of relatively "intellectual" history/philosophy forums that have brought similar responses...

 

m

 

You're right Milo (I assume D is an initial?) I am old and ugly enough to know that though, it was an error in judgement on my part.

 

@Icantbuyafender, us Brits slag each other (and ourselves) off just for laughs all the time. I's like a deliberately over zealous slap on the back between friends. I don't know you and you don't know me and I should have thought better of it, just like I wouldn't walk up to you and slap you on the back if I didn't know you.

[retrosurfer1959]

Guitar strings are spring steel and/or stainless and the standard side cutter or flush cutters are not made to cut hardened steel at all. Flush cutters are made to give you a flat clean cut (one side at least) on soft wire. The main cause of damage to wire cutters is cutting any item that is harder than the fine edge on the tool. The average guitar player doesn't usually know the difference so they typically use small side cutters and as you said they are easy to ruin and the cost adds up after a while. The other issue is the cut itself squeeze cutting stainless is how they make pins so you end up with razor sharp ends when you cut strings with a side cutter if you use the right cutter the end will be square and flat and not half as sharp as a pair of side cutters leaves.

 

 

what you need are hard wire cutters or sometimes called stainless cutters or even floral wire cutters. there cheap, last forever and give you a better cut without any of the effort needed for cutting hardened wire with side cutters. If you look at any of the tools made for cutting guitar strings they are made like this also.

 

 

 

 

[milod]

Farns...

 

Yupper on the name.

 

Funny thing is I almost used the same lines 10 minutes after I wrote on this thread for one of those "history/philosophy" forums.

 

Different subcultures also have different "hot buttons" even though the people involved live within a few miles of each other, too.

 

Back on topic... I just got a string winder with built-in cutter. Ain't used it yet, but yup, it's shaped as above.

 

m