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<DIV><FONT size=3>I use a very simple little wooden shop-made jig, the design of
which, if my memory is correct, I got from Jon Page some years ago. Simple and
works great. Use a decent hardwood - I chose a piece of black cherry cut from
the frame of my college waterbed. As you can see in the picture below, you
simply position the wire in the jig (jig holds wire fairly snug), pull the jig
back to align it with the tuning pin hole (left side of jig), and then cut the
wire flush with the right side of the jig. My jig is exactly three inches long.
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<DIV><FONT size=3></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3>I cut a length of wire for two strings, put a bend in the
middle, place the bend over the hitch pin, place a small clamp on the hitch pin
to hold the string there, run the wire straight over the bridge, place
the wire in the jig, pull the wire snug with my fingers, position jig and
cut.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=3>Below is a close-up of the jig side pictured
above.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=3>Below is a picture of the other side. The little diagram on
the right side is an alignment guide - align the rear edge of the jig with the
middle of the tuning pin hole for the treble and at the rear edge for
bass (thinner wire needs to be shorter than thicker wire for the same
becket position). As you move from treble to bass, you simply keep positioning
the jig a little further toward the rear of the tuning pin hole. In
practice, you really need to experiment with a few wires to get your technique
down. Much depends on how tight you make your bend at the hitch pin, if you feed
the wire through the bridge pins, and how tightly you pull the string. The key
is to be consistent. If you can be consistent with each wire, this jig will
help you get picture-perfect becket positioning.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=3>Note to David Love: </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3>Notice that I countersunk the edges of my tuning pin holes as
you suggested. I did the countersinking after my initial 1/4" hole drilling.
After enlarging the hole on the final drill pass with a 0.265" bit, much of the
countersink was consumed, but some remained - a nice little amount IMHO. (The
first picture above has only seen the first 1/4" drilling pass.) At first I
thought it looked really crappy, but once you get the pins in there with strings
on, you really would need to be told the holes were countersunk to see it.
Thanks for the tip. </FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=3>Terry Farrell</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><FONT
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size=2><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=2>Terry, just tell us if all your beckets
are going to be facing the same direction once it is tuned. How did you do
that?</FONT></STRONG></DIV></FONT></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>