Help working with Guitar Wire please

[-Q-]

So I'm trying to switch from cutting up all my cabling from different bitz to using guitar wire. I am not having any success.

 

Are there certain brands or types that anyone would suggest as being easier to shape than others?

 

Is there any way to get that middle wire out to make the coil more flexible? I have tried without success.

 

Thanks!!

[cormack]

I've just recently started using guitar wire and encountered similar problems, really its a case of curving the wire as much as you can while its of the model. Case in point, today i'm working on the pipes comming off a psychic hood and found that I couldn't curve it round enough so I took it off and bent it bit by bit around a former. Hope thats of some use.....

[rabblerouser]

No it doesnt matter what brand, it's all stiff

 

 

As an alternative, you can use thin solder wrapped around a thin copper wire

[iron father]

Don't use guitar wire. Go to a hardware store and buy various thicknesses of copper wire.

[Artimis Vergadin]

Er, copper wire doesn't have the same look as guitar wire. Guitar wire is perfect for cabling.

 

I'd say don't get the purple stuff, the ones with the greese or whatever to make them smoother and more comfortable. Blurs out the link and is harder to bend.

[Primer22]

Get a small pair of pliers that have a smooth spot on the inside, jewelers pliers work great and can be bought at most craft stores. Use the pliers to bend the guitar wire in small incements to get your cuve, use the smooth spot to hold the wire so it doesnt get marked up. Dont worry if you bend it too far simply put the wire in the pliers and squeeze slightly to make it more natural of a curve. I use this methed and i get great results, heres a few pics as examples my results: Pic 1 Pic 2

These are in the progress of being painted: Pic 3 pic 4

I hope this helps you and I could easily put together a better tutorial with pics if you want.

[Azazal]

As Primer22 says. Also in my travels, I have found that bronze wiring, like Primer22's pics, works better then stainless steel. Brionze bends a bit easier.

[iron father]

Er, copper wire doesn't have the same look as guitar wire.

 

Sure it does, if you wrap a thin wire tightly around a thicker one. It looks exactly the same, and is more controllable. Of course, if there is a way to work with guitar wire such as the one Primer22 posted, then it becomes a matter of preference.

[lieutenant L]

I would say go and look at Dragonforges website :rolleyes:

 

He has some amazig wires - very nicely priced - easy to bend and simple to cut without coils breaking - as his are professionally made pewter ones

 

www.dragonforge.com

 

I would link directly to them - but i dont want to go near breaking rules on advertising etc.

 

thanks,

L

[Commander Trask]

Best strings ive found tht bend rather well are R-Reds (not posting the full company name because i dont want to break the ruels on advertising etc) but the .28 & .38 bend and curve really easily the .48 is a bit too thick for standard 28mm models (dreads and tanks yes)

[-Q-]

Thanks for all the tips so far everyone. I guess I'm just used to achieving a very fine control over my modeling and guitar strings just don't work that way. They just don't bend very tight with good results.

 

Trask, I don't think there would be a problem with posting the brand name of a guitar string. Brothers post things like Vallejo paints, Testor's varnish, Plastruct sheets, etc. all the time.

[Commander Trask]

Thanks for all the tips so far everyone. I guess I'm just used to achieving a very fine control over my modeling and guitar strings just don't work that way. They just don't bend very tight with good results.

 

Trask, I don't think there would be a problem with posting the brand name of a guitar string. Brothers post things like Vallejo paints, Testor's varnish, Plastruct sheets, etc. all the time.

 

 

well the ones im on about are the roto reds by Rotosound (medium gague for de-tuning (a step down from drop D is what they can go to)) are nickle and very pliable, tho they are a bugger to unravel and cut, but bend real easy (well i know they do with me) give em a try

[Tubal]

Is it possible to anneal guitar wire? Heat it until it's red hot and let it cool slowly, the end result might turn out softer.

[Lord_Maggot]

Is it possible to anneal guitar wire? Heat it until it's red hot and let it cool slowly, the end result might turn out softer.

 

I have read this somewhere before but I'm buggered if I can find it. Can anyone mention further on this based on their own experiences?

[Loyalist_Marine]

I heard somewhere that you can cast guitar wire, so that its alot more flexible.

[Brother Titanicus]

I converted an ork dreadnought recently and had some guitar wire lying around so i used it on my dread. To make it stay in place i drilled holes for each end and superglued it in place. They haven't misbehaved since. I don't know how small a scale you could get this on but it would probably work fine on tanks and dreads, just make sure you get the right size drill bit.

[Playa]

Hey,

 

just make sure you get the right size drill bit

 

Guitar strings are sold by "gauge". The gauge is the diameter of the string.

 

A 45 gauge string has a 0.045in diameter. That info should make drill sizing fairly easy.

 

As to string workability -

 

Go to Musician's Friend and do a search for J4504.

 

It's a 'classical' guitar D-string with a *plastic* core and silver wrap.

 

Without a steel core wire, it's much more flexible, and it's already silver! :- )

 

 

Playa

[DaFuzzzyOne_1]

i work in a guitar store, so i see this as my expertise...hah

 

guitar wire will work fine, i use it alot on my models, you just have to bend it FARTHER than you want it to go, it will bend to the shape you want it with patience. if you want more of a round bend, wrap it around a highlighter or something suitably thick to produce a bend, leave it wrapped for a few days, and it will stay that way forever. i recomend you stay away from the heavier gauges, if the package says "suitable for detuning" your gonna want to stay away, those wires are made to stand up to alot of tension, and thus dont bend very easily. you can always use nylon guitar strings, but they dont look the same. easier to use, but out of place

 

hope that helps

[chiaroscuros]

i would buy a pack of electric guitar wire and a pack of bass guitar wire and play with different thicknesses. having a couple parallel wires of different thicknesses or have one ribbed and one smooth really can give a great sence of scale to the model.

 

never try to bend the guitar wire by forcing it around the model. you will tear up your insertion hole and get very frustrated. you have to use two sets of pliers! one plier to hold onto the wire. the second one to force the wire to bend.

 

to get a clean flowing look, i make an extremely tiny bend at each "rib" or every other "rib" ("rib" being each revolution of the wire that is coiled around the center wire) which quickly adds up to a fairly tight curve. you want to keep your curves smooth, even, and flowing. one over-tight kink makes the whole curve look wrong. as suggested, you want to use pliers with an untoothed grip (or use a light touch to avoid putting tool marks on the wire). i find it helps to predrill the two holes in your model and do a lot of dry fittings to see how close you are getting. once you have the right curve (or curves), then i trim the extra wire down to the right length. if you make your curves too tight, it is easy to use your fingers to flex it back a little.

 

then a drop of superglue at each insersion hole is all you need. if the tube is tight against the model, i might consider another drop of glue but if you have bent your wire correctly, it will be one of the strongest/stiffest parts of your model. it isn't going anywhere!

 

artistically, you will want to think about how the hose would flex and sag with gravity. also, it is great for suggesting movement since you can get the hose to look like it is "flying" in the wake of your model (if he is running, spinning, etc). if your model is crouched down, you can even add some extra length to the hose to suggest that it flopped to the ground and is snaking around a little.

[LupoLoopy]

Just heat it up using a lighter. It makes it so much more workable it's beyond belief...

[WingsOfTheFalcon]

i work in a guitar store, so i see this as my expertise...hah

 

guitar wire will work fine, i use it alot on my models, you just have to bend it FARTHER than you want it to go, it will bend to the shape you want it with patience. if you want more of a round bend, wrap it around a highlighter or something suitably thick to produce a bend, leave it wrapped for a few days, and it will stay that way forever. i recomend you stay away from the heavier gauges, if the package says "suitable for detuning" your gonna want to stay away, those wires are made to stand up to alot of tension, and thus dont bend very easily. you can always use nylon guitar strings, but they dont look the same. easier to use, but out of place

 

hope that helps

 

Abolutely spot on, guitar cables also become more flexible with time, so older and used cables and easier to use. I did a load of cables using guitar wire for an ad-mech project I was working on once, one of the simplest ways I found to make cable more flexible was to first wrap it extremely tightly around a thin pole then unwind and rewind it a few times. They soon loosen up!