String winder: unnecessary luxury or essential tool for guitarists?
Published on Wednesday 7 October 2026
A string winder: is it a genuine tool, or just a toy for guitarists who can’t be bothered to turn the pegs? Honest answer: you can get by perfectly well without one. But it saves so much winding and costs so little that you’d be daft to leave it on the shelf. In short: is it a luxury? Yes. Unnecessary? No.
Strictly speaking, you can do without one
First, a reality check. Everyone who has ever changed strings without a winder has lived to tell the tale. You turn the tuning peg, and again, and again, until the old string is slack enough. Tedious? Definitely. Impossible? No. The only tool you really can’t do without is a pair of wire cutters. You won’t get those sharp little ends of steel off with your teeth. Hopefully.
» View all string winders
» When should I change my guitar strings?
Why guitarists never go back once they have one
Ask any guitarist who owns one. You’ll get the same answer every time, just phrased in all sorts of ways: it simply saves a load of time. Six strings off, six strings on, and a whole series of turns of the tuning peg for every single string. With a winder, your wrist makes a smooth little circle and you’re done before your fingers even realise they’ve been working.
Some winders come with a bonus for acoustic guitarists: the bridge pin puller (see photo below). Steel-string acoustic guitars have bridge pins: the little pins that sit in the bridge like wedges, holding the ball end of the string firmly against the bridge plate underneath. Anyone who has ever prised them out with a spoon knows it’s the perfect way to damage your bridge. That’s why winders sometimes have a notch that hooks neatly under a pin. Lever, pin out, done. Two jobs with one bit of plastic.
Some winders go one step further. The Fazley SW02 is a winder, bridge pin puller and string cutter in one. That way you’ve got those essential cutters in your hand as well, and there’s one less thing rattling around in your guitar case.
Then there’s the question: hand crank or motor? There are also automatic string winders, and they work perfectly well. If you play professionally and put a fresh set of strings on your instrument after every sweaty gig or long studio session, one of these is a godsend: the motor takes care of all those turns for six strings, night after night.
Even so, a surprising number of players deliberately choose the old-fashioned hand crank, or go back to one after a brief flirtation with a motorised model. If you don’t change strings every night, a hand crank does the job without any fuss, and it’s still quicker than twiddling the tuning peg with your fingers.
Winders for bass guitar, ukulele and other instruments?
The cup of a standard string winder is designed for the small button on a guitar tuning peg, but basses with traditional machine heads have larger keys. Not because the thick strings put out so much tension (the gear inside takes care of that), but purely for leverage: a larger key turns more easily. That’s why a bass winder has a wider opening. Does your bass have modern, small keys? Then a regular winder will do the job.
With a ukulele, it’s the opposite problem. The tuners are small, and some models have friction tuners that stick straight out of the back of the headstock. A guitar winder sits loosely around them, slips with every turn and can damage the button. A ukulele winder has a smaller opening that fits snugly. If you regularly switch between guitar, bass and ukulele, look for a winder with several cup sizes, so you only need to pack one in your case.
» String winders for basses with large tuning keys
» String winders for ukuleles
» String winders for bowed string instruments
» String winders for mandolin
» String winders for banjo
» String winders for guitar
The potato peeler of your guitar case
A string winder is the potato peeler of your guitar case. You can peel a potato with an ordinary knife, so strictly speaking the gadget is unnecessary. Yet almost every kitchen drawer has one. A string winder costs next to nothing, takes up no space and makes an annoying job just that little bit less annoying.
No comments yet...