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Looking for ideas re: DIY String Ball Ends

Posted by Rex Smith on April 9, 2015 at 9:53am in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion

I'm currently building a tampura - and have run into a slight challenge.  My nut-to bridge length is right at 40" - so I need LONG strings - that guitar shops just don't keep in stock.  I have ordered rolls of music wire (1/4 lb rolls - in the appropriate gauges) so I'll have a LOT of music wire for projects...  My challenge comes in as this:

Most of the projects I see make use of the ball-end of the commercially manufactured strings.  Is there a good method for attaching string that has been purchased in a bulk roll and does not have ball-ends?

(i.e. a DIY ball-end, or maybe a method of tying/attaching the cigar box body end of the strings that works and does not allow a tied end to slip & go out of tune while playing?)  The wire I purchased is spring-steel music wire (Precision brand).


Rex S.

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Tags: Ball, DIY, End, String
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Replies

  • John Sawyer April 17, 2015 at 12:26pm
    The knot used on a classical guitar is called a timber-hitch. Might be a little weird on wire, though as it won't tighten up right... http://www.animatedknots.com/timber/ For wound strings, you only need one loop around...
  • Wade April 14, 2015 at 7:37pm

    Could you recycle an old set of ball ends from a crusty set of strings?

  • Randy S. Bretz April 13, 2015 at 5:34am

    Harp string pin`s is what I used on some builds. You can use loop ends or ball ends on them.  the Brick House build

  • The Phrygian Kid April 13, 2015 at 4:26am
    Ok well this is a skill you'll need if you ever wanna string a harp, zither (what the piano is inside) etc... What you want is a (good) pair of multi-grips and a nail..
    Clamp about an inch of the end of the wire into a loop..
    Stick your nail in, and turn it four or five times, done. You might want a pair of pliers to grip the nail

    Another way you might find easier, bang the nail half into a heavy plank. Clamp the loop around that, and wind the multigrips around (the string, with the end and the return both clamped in) four or five times...
    • Rex Smith > The Phrygian Kid April 13, 2015 at 4:53pm

      That sounds like a good way for making the loop ends.  Thank you!

  • gary herget April 9, 2015 at 10:33pm

    Alot of mountain dulcimers use loop end strings, they're easy to twist together and simple to use with a mando tail piece or a small nail with the string looped over the head. Banjos also use the loop end string.  

    • Rex Smith > gary herget April 10, 2015 at 8:27pm

      That sounds like a good idea

  • Ron "Oily" Sprague April 9, 2015 at 11:55am
    How to tie on non-ball end strings (several methods):

    http://emedia.leeward.hawaii.edu/frary/changing_strings.htm

    I also learned another method a couple of weeks ago in Istanbul while purchasing a baglama. You run the strings through the hole twice, then bend a little fishhook in the end, and push that down through the double loop you just made. Works great.
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