Summary

Welcome to this weeks Tools of the trade where this week we'll be looking at needle nose pliers. Needle nose pliers come in many different sizes for different task. Some have smooth jaws and some have teeth which are great when needing extra grip. Pliers are an essential part of any stringers tool kit from helping to install leathers to helping with fitting string into places where your fingers don't quite fit. Most pliers can be picked up at Walmart, craft stores and the major box home improvement stores for relatively cheap.

The picture above shows a great place where smooth jaw pliers work great, from transitioning at top and bottom on traditionals to pushing one extra string through a small sidewall hole. The smooth jaw is used most of the time because they don't damage the string. I also find myself using them sometimes to grab crosslace in areas where my finger don't fit such as the throat area when stringing traditional pockets. Smooth jaw also works great as a pry tool to open holes up where multiple strings make it difficult to get the last string through, most tools in stringing serve multiple purposes and needle nose pliers are no exception.

Pliers are not an absolute must have to string a stick but definitely can make it much easier and less time consuming. In my kit there's always at least two pairs one smooth and one with teeth that usually can take care of any task that's needed.

Details