Guitar strings as cables etc

[Flinty]

I have seen several references to using guitar strings for cabling and so forth. Being a musical klutz from birth I have no idea what I should be looking for - presumably guitar as opposed to bass strings, and electric as opposed to acoustic; was there something about steel and brass, and which gauge/string(s) work best at 54mm for something like a rebreather hose?

Edit: stupidity

[Kaled]

Bass guitar strings are good too - possibly more useful as they're thicker (although it all depends on what you want them for). I use steel as they were cheapest but I'm told brass is easier to work with. Just look on eBay and you can get a whole set very cheaply which'll give you a few different gauges; or find a musician and ask for their broken ones...

[Ferran]

Brass are definately more malleable but steel are fine too. There's no specific gauge that you should be going for as different applications require different sizes, so it's best to have a range. And I agree cheap broken ones are best, I have a stash from a local music shop - I went in to buy some, the guy could obviously see that I knew nothing of music and asked what I needed them for, then dug out a handful of broken strings and gave me them for free.

[DapperAnarchist]

Any guitarist will have broken ones - and perhaps even a music shop might have broken ones lying around, since many would have guitars to play on. There isn't must difference between electric and acoustic strings, I believe, other than the nylon ones (ultra cheap). I use a variety of acoustic brass bass and guitar strings acquired from a busking friend of mine.

[Flinty]

As I dont currently know any axe wielding maniacs, I think I shall follow Ferran's lead and wander into a shop looking more gormless than usual.

Thanks chaps.

[greenstuff_gav]

i use .56 Gauge Bass Guitar Wire ... i explained to the guy it was for an Sculpting Project and he was dead helpful in letting me look at different gauges, all really similar sizes

[psycho]

well you dont want Nylon ones.....they arent as good a quality and are far easier to break.....so you might find an abundance of these as they tend to be used alot on the cheap beginner guitars (like the 3 foot acoustic i have in my loft lol)....personally id go for Bass Strings....brass tends to bend easier whilst playing so id assume it is easier to utilise in the world of modelling....never actually thought about using my strings as when they snap they usually go with such ferocity it leads to much cursing and bleeding of fingers, knuckles, hands and even my eyelid once........hmmm....plus the fact that strings dont tend to be exspensive means you can probably walk into your local music shop and simply ask them if they have any spare broken strings lying around...simply state why you want them and they should be more than helpful.....if not their probably Metal thrashing Baby eating Nutjobs like myself and wont even give you the time of day.....joking mate...
good luck with the strings and good luck with the models

kerby

[Robert_the_damned]

You'll probably want something arround a .40 to .60 gauge string for a gasmask pipe, so either a regular guitar stiring pack or a pack bass strings will have something suitable. Something people might not know is that the string gauges are actually the thickness of the string in decimal inches but writen in an odd way (ie a .60 string is 0.060").

Get a cheap set on ebay is my advice as guitar stores generally only sell more expensive brands with quite a lot of mark up, though some places sell single strings which will probably be cheaper than buying a whole pack if you only want one.

Thicker strings take a little patients to bend neatly but a good pair of pliers helps a lot.

Here's a semi-related blast from the past

(sweet I just worked out how to do thumbnails in BBcode)


[totally off topic] Thickest string I've ever broken was a .54, mostly because I'd left a bur on the saddle when I filed it, but it had to happen in the middle of a band practice[/totally off topic]

[Kaled]

Thicker strings take a little patients to bend neatly but a good pair of pliers helps a lot.

Thicker guitar strings are made (at least the ones I have are) of a central straight wire with a very fine wire wrapped around it and then the outer coiled wire around that.  I've found it's easy enough to pull out the central wire and then the coil is very easy to bend into shape.  I've only been able to do that with some of the thicker bass guitar strings - pulling the central wire out of others is pretty much impossible as the coil is too tight around it.