# The home-made G-string soap cutter



## ItsForrest (Mar 24, 2018)

SInce there have been a couple people asking for more info on the cutter I made, I thought it might be helpful to post more info. So, here goes. Hope you can make sense of it.

I made mine rather large. Since I was cutting strips off of a 24" wide piece of plywood, I made the thing 24" long. Half that size or 12" would have been fine until or unless I start using longer molds at some point.

For materials, the Home Depot and Lowe's here have an assortment of smaller pieces of plywood so you don't have to buy an 8' x 4' sheet just to make a small project. I got a 2' x 4' piece of plywood 3/4 inch thick. The thicker wood will be needed so the tension of the string doesn't cause it to bend when you tighten it up. Look for a decent quality with a sanded finish. I also needed a small piece of 1/2 thick plywood to mount the tuner to. The 3/4 stuff was a bit to thick. I had some of that in my scrap pile.

While you're at the hardware store, get a hinge. I used a 2" hinge. They usually come in packs of 2 so you'll have an extra.

I also put some rubber feet on it that I found near the hinges.

Next you'll need to go to your local guitar store. You will need one tuner and a string. Look for the guitar store or music store with an instrument repair shop and they should have a box full of used tuners cheap. For the string, ask for an un-wound 18 G-string. They will know what you're talking about.

You will also need wood glue (Elmers white glue will do also) and assorted wood screws. 

I made the bed a bit over 4" wide to hold a large loaf of soap.




You need just a short back wall or fence to keep the loaf straight when cutting..



Once again a bit over built. Big enough to easily clear a loaf 4" wide and 4" tall.




Base is 10" wide.
Note that the hinge is opposite the fence as the wire will push the soap against the fence as you cut.




Square blocks are added to the cutter arch to have something to support the hinge.






I drilled a small hole to thread the guitar string through. That green thing is the ball on the end of the string.




Line up a saw cut with the hole - takes a bit of planning and pencil marks to get everything all lined up.




Hopefully this will help someone else out. Let me know if you need any more details.


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## lrpolillo (Mar 24, 2018)

ItsForrest said:


> SInce there have been a couple people asking for more info on the cutter I mad, I thought it might be helpful to post more info. So, here goes. Hope you can make sense of it.
> 
> I made mine rather large. Since I was cutting strips off of a 24" wide piece of plywood, I made the thing 24" long. Half that size or 12" would have been fine until or unless I start using longer molds at some point.
> 
> ...



Thank you so much.


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## scard (Mar 24, 2018)

Sorry, but I'm not using any soap cut with a G- string! (I just had to)

But really, great directions, I may have to try this. Thanks.


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## shunt2011 (Mar 24, 2018)

I didn’t know they made G strings for soap cutters. [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]


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## ItsForrest (Mar 24, 2018)




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## David1pro (Apr 29, 2018)

Encouraged by other's homemade guitar string cutters, I went through my scrap woods and made my own. I refused to buy any wood, so it's definitely a conglomerate of various species of wood; I had no large scraps. Instead of a metal hinge, I made a sandwich hing as it will eliminate all play in the cutting arm - giving perfectly straight cuts. It was a fun project.


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## cmzaha (Apr 29, 2018)

Very nice.


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## earlene (Apr 29, 2018)

It looks marvelous, *David1Pro*!  Great job.


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## ItsForrest (Apr 29, 2018)

Nicely done. 
You are correct that the metal hinge has too much slop. After using mine a couple times I contemplated rebuilding it with a hinge like you made because it was just too loose and the slop was noticeable in the cuts. For now I used my giant pliers and pressed the metal hinge tighter, which has helped.  

So, those of you shopping on Etse for wire soap cutters, be aware that the ones with the metal hinges will give you uneven cuts. The Bud cutter has a hinge like David1pro made, which should definitely give a straighter cut.


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## SunRiseArts (Apr 29, 2018)

whoa.  I just show my husband.


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## Primrose (Apr 29, 2018)

You may want to edit the title to guitar string :O omg this is not what I had in mind when opening the thread

Though I suppose it does get people's attention ... LOL


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## SunRiseArts (Apr 29, 2018)

lol Primrose. It admit it did cross my mind.


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## KristaY (Apr 29, 2018)

It looks terrific David1pro!


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## Lin19687 (Apr 30, 2018)

@Primrose  so were you looking to see G-strings ??  hahahahahaa


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## shunt2011 (Apr 30, 2018)

Very nicely done!   I have the single arm cutter and the metal multi bar cutter from Bud.  Love them both.


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## Marta Preisner (Dec 1, 2018)

I'm so impressed by your works! Good job!
I'd like to do my soap cutter. I think, I can handle every thing with the wood, even with the arm. But I can't imagine myself how to fix the string. I get, that one end will be the tuner, but the other end? This is this green little ball. And how to fix a string into it? They came that way?


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## David1pro (Dec 5, 2018)

To hold the non-tuner end of the guitar string, I simply drilled a hole through the wood and used a larger washer with a small hole in it. The hole in the washer will stop the end of the guitar string from passing through and the large diameter of the washer will keep the washer solid against the wood to give strong support. 

Hope this helps.


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## karon L adams (Dec 6, 2018)

David1pro said:


> To hold the non-tuner end of the guitar string, I simply drilled a hole through the wood and used a larger washer with a small hole in it. The hole in the washer will stop the end of the guitar string from passing through and the large diameter of the washer will keep the washer solid against the wood to give strong support.
> 
> Hope this helps.


We found that simply depending on the piece on the guitar string, as made, would eventually fail. often spectacularly. you will be putting far more pressure on the string than was meant to be. to solve this problem, we used bolts set in at each place where the wire was needed.  we drilled the bolts themselves with a 1/8" or so hole. then, we would put the string through that hole, with the butt end catching, and allow the string to wrap around the bolt several times. this divides the stress by the circumference of the bolt as many times as you have wrapped it.

it is wise to do this at both ends in order to minimize the wire stretching, cutting into the wood or simply breaking (which can cause significant injuries to soft bits of your person. ask me how I know)

Good luck!!


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