It's Dan Erlewine's
Pin & Saddle Puller
© Frank Ford, 4/14/98; Photos by Dan Erlewine, 1992
(Photos by permission from Stewart-MacDonald's Shop Talk Video #3)


Here's a nifty tool modification by everybody's pal, Dan Erlewine. He's taken a pair of large size end nippers and ground them to a special shape. He blunted the jaws, and rounded them so they meet only in the center. At one end, he ground a round section that just fits the shoulder of bridge pins. The faces of the jaws are rounded in all dimensions as well.

Here's the business end of the tool:






When Dan wants to pull a tight saddle out of the bridge, he grips it in the center of the jaws, and simply rocks the tool to lift the saddle:


This tool and technique gives Dan a tremendous amount of leverage and control when lifting saddles out.

Look how easily he pulls pins out, without making a mark on the bridge top:



It's the simplest tools we use the most! This one is both simple and elegant, because you can recycle nippers that are nicked or dull from use.


Here's Dan, the blues man, checking the setup on a Gibson:



Thanks for sharing this tool idea, Dan!



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