More goodness from Frank Ford’s Frets.com site. He shows two ways that a person can make a loop-end string in a pinch. The gizmo at right is a simple winder one can use to fashion custom strings from any gauge of wire. One could purchase a 200 foot spool of music wire for around 15 bucks and make nearly 100 strings from it.

He also demonstrates how one can safely remove the ball from a ball-end string, leaving only the loop.

In desperate times, we’ve done the opposite — used loop-end banjo or mandolin strings on the guitar. You can loop them around the bridge pin and use them just like a conventional string. Once the pin is in, it’s hard to tell the difference.

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Secret serial numbers on vintage Gibson mandolins