I'm glad we don't have twist our own
Ball End Strings
© Frank Ford, 2/17/99; Photos by FF


Virtually all steel guitar strings have an end that looks like this:

It's called a "ball end string" even though the ball is a cylinder, and usually hollow like this one. The ball either seats under the top a guitar with a pin bridge, secured by a bridge pin, or pulls in from the backside of a pinless bridge, or is held by a tailpiece. Offhand, I can't think of any steel string guitar that's designed for anything but ball end strings.

Ball ends are sometimes fixed to banjo strings, and sometimes to nylon guitar strings, but they are hardly ever used on professional grade banjos or classical guitars.

Back to Glossary


Back to Index Page