If you have ever played the guitar stood up then you will be familiar with the guitars “Endpin”. If you are struggling to find the attachment that fixes the guitar strap to your guitar then you will need to know about the Endpin.
What is an Endpin on a guitar? An “Endpin” is a small ‘knob-like’ component on a guitar that attaches the guitar strap to the guitar, located at the tail end of the guitar. It is used to hold the guitar strap so you can play stood up.
In this article, I will discuss more about Endpins and how they function.
1. What is an Endpin?
As discussed an Endpin is a small attachment that fixes your guitar strap the bottom of your guitar body. The Endpin works in conjunction with the strap button (located at the top of the body) whereby, the strap will feed from Endpin and connect to the upper body of the guitar. Thus, balancing out the weight distribution so the guitar is secure when playing stood up.
With many electric acoustic guitars, the Endpin also has the output jack installed for routing the signal out of the instrument’s picks up and into an amplifier. These are formally known as Endpin Jacks.
2. Why is having an Endpin Important?
An Endpin is important for two reasons:
- The first is so that you can play standing and have your guitar held strongly against its own weight. This means they need to be strong and robust so that you can safely play at Gigs and in the studio without worrying your guitar may drop and brake.
- The second is to contain the jack output (mainly electric acoustics) so that your guitar can be amplified. This is a common practice for acoustic guitars to avoid adding additional holes to the acoustic body.
If you have never used a strap on your guitar before, or wanting to convert an acoustic guitar into an electric acoustic then you will need to consider installing such a component.
3. Different Types of Endpins
There are many various types of Endpins. Each type of endpin serves a certain function, whether it is for gigging, opposed to playing at home or even for aesthetics. You will definitely need to know what options you have at your disposal.
The types of endpins include:
- Gripper – the gripper is an ideal design for gigging as it is a solid piece for really gipping onto the guitar strap. However, having a plastic grip
- Traditional – The traditional Endpin is the most common and is found on both acoustics and electrics. It holds the guitar quite well, however it you where to gig then you would require a strap lock to ensure it is secure.
- Schaller – the Schaller is similar to the traditional however it is slightly pleasing aesthetics and holds the guitar slightly better.
- Snakewood – Snakewood is a minimal design, they are relatively reliable however these are more for an aesthetic appeal.
- Straplok – the straplock is another great design choice they work as well the Schaller and gripper but have a slightly different appearance about them.
- Endpin Jack – the Endpin Jack is where the jack lead connects to the guitar. Mainly found on electro acoustic guitars, it has the purpose of also connecting the guitar strap too.
Apart from the Endpin jack, each serve the same function however the Gripper, Schaller and Straplock are better for holding the guitar and you can gig without using strap locks.
4. Endpin & Strap locks
As taking note from the types of Endpins above, especially the traditional Endpin will not provide enough grip and at time you may experience the guitar strap to slip. If this happens, your guitar will be free falling and will break if you do not catch it in time.
If this is the case and you want to gig and jump about on stage, then getting a strap lock is necessary have. The good news is that strap locks are cheap and easy to fix.
You will need strap locks to fasten your strap securely to the guitar.
5. What is the diameter of an endpin?
This small ‘knob-like’ component mounts onto the bottom of the guitars body through a 5mm hole. This can vary slightly by a few millimetres however if you are switching from a Endpin Jack then it will require an half-inch diameter hole.
6. Oversized Endpin Hole
As Endpins are different sizes, especially if your switching out from a Endpin jack they are twice the diameter. This means you will have an oversized Endpin hole.
It is very common to have an oversized hole for your instrument, and you do not want to install a new Endpin as this will include making a new hole in your guitar.
Luckily, you can find EBONY endpin PLUGS specifically to solve this problem.
Conclusion
In this article, will looked at Endpins and the problems guitarists may face. Luckily, they’re easy and cheap solutions whereby, you can easily find the parts you need on the internet.
