Product Review: Pro Bridge Pin Puller

As a man with (currently) five guitars one of them a 12-string, I am regularly changing strings on one or another of them. The bridge pins which secure the bottom of the strings just behind the bridge on the lower bout (the widest part of the guitar - toward the bottom if it is standing neck-up) are generally made of plastic (on the least expensive instruments) or a hard wood like ebony on better guitars. Either way, they can be easily nicked and damaged each time they are removed. The Pro Bridge Pin Puller from Gravity Guitar Innovations is what millions of us have been in need of and waiting an awfully long time for. A simple tool that does one simple task - easily, safely and well - every time!

Historically, they have been removed either manually with very strong fingers and a twisting/pulling action with a dry cloth or, more mechanistically, by using pliers - often wrapped in a soft cloth to literally pull them out. All precautions taken, the bridge pin removal has traditionally been the most delicate part of string replacement and a tool to help make it safer and easier has been needed for a long time. Changing guitar strings is never completely fun, but this Pin Puller makes the entire process much easier, quicker, safer and more manageable.

Changing out guitar strings is one of the regular requirements of maintaining instruments in their best possible tones and voices. Old, worn strings can make a magnificent instrument sound damaged. Having to change them regularly is an accepted and understood task to anyone who plays a guitar or any other stringed instrument that uses bridge pins regularly. The importance of good, fresh strings on a guitar cannot be over-emphasized. After all, it is the vibration of those strings resonating against and through the body of the guitar that creates the sound. The most meticulously crafted instrument will not sound as good as it should if the strings are too old or somehow or other just not the correct strings.

Yes, even a Stradivarius would not sound particularly impressive with lousy, cheap or over-played strings on it - The magnificent art of the craftsman/builder and the talent of the violinist notwithstanding.

To change the strings on an acoustic guitar, first the strings are loosened, usually one at a time to maintain the correct tension on the neck. That's the easy part. Then, the work begins.

It is necessary and accepted ritual task engaged in by all guitar players but, in all honesty, it isn't fun. String ends cut fingers, clippings from the extra length of the new strings get easily dropped and lost to be discovered by a bare foot days later and the retuning process required each and every time strings are changed, is a time consuming and exacting activity. Pulling the pins without damaging them has been, for many of us, the most challenging and demanding part of changing the strings.

With the advent of the Pro Bridge Pin Puller, manufactured by Gravity Guitar Innovations, the right tool for the right job is finally available. It is amazing to consider that this simple device was centuries, literally, in the making. If a simple to use and good one were available before, it would have come into ubiquitously common usage long before now.

With my own family of four 6-string and one 12-string guitar, there are 36 strings in all that need to be changed at least four times a year - often more. That's a minimal total of over a 'gross' (144) pin removals a year. With that many 'extractions' barely a year goes by when I have not inadvertently damaged a pin or two and, because they are generally sold in sets of six, must buy that many to replace one. (There are multiple styles of bridge pins - some unique to certain brands of guitars. They are not necessarily interchangeable.)

That's a lot of pins. I had been using the 'pliers and soft cloth' method for many years and thought that the technique was as good as one might hope for. And then, in the advertising back section of a magazine written for acoustic guitar players, there it was.

Made of solid steel, it is delivered on a key chain and folds into itself to a compact 3" long X 2/5" in diameter. It opens into a "T" shape where the horizontal portion becomes the handle and the vertical part, the peg puller which simply slips over the bridge pin, slips a narrow edge under it and allows it to be quickly, simply and safely lifted out of its place.

With the Pro Bridge Pin Puller, my string changing time has been cut nearly in half, leaving more time for the fun part - the tuning and enjoyment of the special ring and voice of new strings.

Priced at a reasonable $17.95, this Pin Puller is a particularly helpful and long-awaited tool which makes guitarists less apt to injure either themselves or their instruments in the inevitable process of changing strings.