String winders

[Ukena]

Some time ago I bought a few string winders hand-made by Frank Ford, one of the founders of Gryphon, a terrific shop in California (and he was in charge of the repair shop there); he called them Frank's Cranks.

They are truly beautiful pieces of equipment; unfortunately no longer available, since Frank died a little over a year ago. The website for his stringwinders is still up, though: www.frankscranks.com – you can see how perfectly he made them. Back when I was playing Martin guitars almost exclusively, Frank's cranks made string changes enjoyable.

But unfortunately, he never made one that fit Grover Imperials, which both of my Triggs archtops feature. With advancing arthritis in my fingers, I find hand cranking those tuning pegs to be painful.

Emanuele Faggion, a luthier in Italy, posted a short while ago with pictures of the instruments he makes and a link to his homepage. I visited his homepage, and found that he also has hand-made string winders. I wrote and asked if he could make one to fit Grover Imperial tuning pegs, and he replied immediately that he could.

I received two yesterday (one for the Triggs in Paris, one for the Triggs in NYC), and it works a charm.

You can see it at Premium String Winder/Bridge Pin Puller - Emanuele Faggion, Liutaio

[DawgBone]

Wow, wish I had seen Frank's cranks earlier. Love that old world level of craftsmanship and attention to detail.

[BillB]

I miss Frank. I think all of us who went to Gryphon do.

[vinnyv1k]

Frank was my go to repair guy since 1974. I miss him big time.

[EmanueleFaggion]

Thank you so much Paul, it’s been a pleasure!
Also, having my name in the same post with the legend Frank Ford is making me a little sweaty :-))) . His website frets.com was/is a real bible for every guitar builder and repairer.

[Ukena]

Yes, it is fortunate that frets.com is still available.