Official Luthiers Forum!

Title say's it all. Where do you guys get em for little $$

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"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

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Interested to hear this one myself! Always surprised me LV didn't carry them (although least expensive & Lee Valley are rarely heard together.)
I like the small LMI ones better than Stewmacs big ones.

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Dave
Milton, ON

You got that right Dave, LV and inexpensive don't go together.

I've been looking on ebay and there are lots of options there. Price all depends on the size tip and if they are graduated or not. These look pretty good

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"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

Type in pipettes on EBay. They're pretty cheap. I have a life time supply. A friend of mine bought about 500 off EBay. I just mooch them off him.

VWR Scientific supply (I got their 2,500 pg. catalog 10 yrs ago. Never ordered, but the prices and choices were attractive, esp in bulk. Larry and I talked about splitting a big bag of them. Search for "disposable transfer pipets, polyethylene" Choices vary wildly, so search it for what you want. Let me know if you find another source. I'm sures there's several. Just happen to have their catalog.... Your mileage may vary.

http://www.vwrsp.com
BTW, the smaller ones might be cheaper, for superglue. Bigger ones for mixing stains, etc. Keep that in mind . & don't forget the micro tip option can be gotten around with the standard tip by pinching it between your teeth, and pulling (don't do it when it's full of superglue or stain ) it will stretch to a fine tip like taffy. Again, YMMV. Think CHEAP!

Looking and learning here... the capillary stem drop size varies. 25 microL to 50 microL, for example. With superglue, I care about the SIZE of the drop, and how long the pipet is. I prefer to be closer than farther from where I'm precisely placing that droplet. (i like the shorter ones, but the don't go to the bottom of the superglue bottle when it's almost empty

Yah, size matters. Should expect to pay a range from $.02 to $.15/pc. Depending on quantity, (non) sterility, graduation marks, size, capillary stems, etc. Have at it.

You can 'stretch' cheap plastic pipettes (with a little help from a hairdrier/heat gun if necessary) into a thin tip, and then snip off the very end for a finer drop size.

I find it humerous that we won't hesitate to spend over $1000 for wood for one guitar, yet search and search because paying 35 cents for a pipette from StewMac is just too much! Just part of the disease I guess

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John Ressler

gotta save where you can. Regarding the wood, you gotta pay the wood. Whadda ya think - wood grows on trees? Or better yet they don't grow in my back yard! Yep. we are a twisted bunch. Thanks for the perspective John!

Hey Rod,

Edmund Scientific is an age old reliable source with excellent pricing.

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Bill Hodge


One does not simply, own enough guitars!

I've never paid $1000 for wood for any guitar I've made to date But I know what you're saying John.

Thanks folks.

Just put in an order from an Ebay store, 100 pieces for $12.35, free shipping.

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My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

I get mine by the dozen from Euphonon in NH, as well as strings in bulk and a bunch of other stuff. You can stretch the neck like Arnt describes, I use needlenose pliers. SM and LMI are overpriced for a lot of that stuff.

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

So, do all you folks use separate pipettes rather than the long&skinny 'tips' that fit on to the 'nozzle' of the small CA bottle?

The tips are all I've used, so far- am I missing some obvious advantage to the separate pipettes?

Cheers
John

Actually, I use the tips you mention John. I also use a small hypodermic needle with the sharp tip of the needle ground down if I need more control. Since we have horses we keep the needles on hand for shots.

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Bill Hodge


One does not simply, own enough guitars!

Well John, if using the tip for the CA bottle, you don't get the excitting opportunity of knocking the large CA bottle over when removing the pipette and glueing everything on the bench to the bench (Where's the smart a$$ smily)

I've never used the little tips for the CA bottle but I've used pipettes. One advantage is to buy CA in larger quantities to reduce costs and just use the pipette as the applicator. I buy 8oz bottles of CA and use to pour it into smaller bottles, but that can be problematic at times.

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"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

Rod-

I see that in my future as I just bought a 16oz bottle of CA recently!!

I'll see how the 'refilling' thing works in practice.
I don't even like CA much, but it sure is handy.

John

I've been using the capillary tips on the small tubes of CA from HF that I buy when they go on sale. I think biting down on the tip of the pipette and strenching it is an old Frank Ford or Dan Erlewine trick. No heat required, just good teeth.

Heh, heh, I almost did that once. Then I took a scrap block of wood about 4" square x 3/4" thick and use a spade-bit to drill a counter sunk hole in it that was a press fit for the CA bottle. Now I just plug the bottle into the hole before removing the cap and so far (crosses fingers behind back) I haven't been able to turn that over yet.

Alan D.

but if you are really clever, you can use the pipette to spill thin CA into the hole on the block , have it wick thru the block, and glue the block to your bench.

...at least with the block glued to the bench it is harder to tip the bottle over.

-jd