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Looking for ideas re: DIY String Ball Ends

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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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on April 9, 2015 at 4:55am

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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Permalink Reply by Rex Smith on April 10, 2015 at 1:27pm

Ron,

Do you have a pic or drawing of what would look like?

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on April 10, 2015 at 5:58pm

No, I don't. I just watched the guy do it. Here's what he did:

The string was pushed once through a hole in the tailpiece, which was very similar to an end-stop CBG tailpiece affixed to the end of the box. The string was pushed into the hole from the tail toward the headstock end of the neck. It would also work on an exposed tailpiece for a neck through, although not as well. The string was then looped around the stop tailpiece, and pushed back through the same hole, again toward the headstock, leaving about 1" extra at the end protruding toward the headstock. A small narrow fishhook was bent into that end. The straight end of the hook was then fit into the loop made by pushing the string through the hole twice, and the string was then pulled tight.

Sorry I don't have a a pic.

You could also knot a small plastic bead to one end as a DIY ball end. Beads is cheap.

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Permalink Reply by Goldsmithexile on April 9, 2015 at 7:08am

I got some of that wire, they sell it on ebay for pianos and harpsichords. On my 1 string diddley, I tend to change the strings a lot (because I try out different sorts and sizes, not because they break). I just use a small washer, as a sort of "ball end" twisted onto the end of the string cut from the long roll. It is a doddle to drop it over the screw that sticks out the end of the diddley bow, then tighten and tune as normal

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Permalink Reply by gary herget on April 9, 2015 at 3:33pm

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.

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Permalink Reply by Rex Smith on April 10, 2015 at 1:27pm

That sounds like a good idea

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Permalink Reply by The Phrygian Kid on April 12, 2015 at 9:26pm

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...