I am a pro musician, and have several guitars, which means I have to change strings often. I have always hated throwing them away, but the only use I ever found for them was using the Phosphor Bronze 1st (E) strings for weed-guards on lures and flies, and metal leaders for saltwater fishing. All the other Bronze strings are too stiff to be able to wrap around a hook. Well, I changed the strings on my classical guitar the other day, and decided to try to use the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd strings (nylon) for flies (on a classical guitar, these are all the same diameter…)
The result was a great looking bluegill buster pattern. The string gave the body some incredible definition and segmentation. I tested it out in the river behind the house, and all the fish tried to destroy it, Redears, sunfish, SM Bass, a few trout, and even a crappie (which I didn’t even know was in there…) all attacked it with murderous abandon. Since this was the 3rd string (G), I am calling the fly the G-String.
G-String
Hook: #10 2X Nymph
Thread: Red 6/0 Unithread
Eyes: Large Bead Chain, tied Clouser-style
Tail: White Sparkle Craft Fur
Underbody: Red Unithread
Outer Body: Used Nylon Guitar String, in this case, the G-String (3rd)
Hackle, black Craft Fur in a dubbing loop
Legs: medium black rubber legs
Gig, Is the red from the thread underneath the string or did the string have some color to it. I am completely non-musical so I have never looked at a guitar string for more than 10 seconds.
The red is from the red thread showing through, sort of a translucent look. On classical (nylon) strings, the first three are plain clear nylon (usually) and the last three (bass) are wrapped with a soft metal thread, usually bronze.
I’ll be experimenting with some other styles shortly, maybe using the wrapped strings for a sort of Copper-Johnish type fly.
As another professional musician, I have yet to figure out how to incorporate “BASS” strings into a fly. Heck, the string is thicker than most my flies I tie.
I use clear stretch cord for making jewelry. Plus a #28
I play bass guitar also, but my bass is an Ashbory, with silicone rubber strings. They are way too thick, even for a saltwater fly. Regular bass strings??? I dunno…maybe you could tow a car or boat with them???
As I said earlier, you can use the 1st (E), and 2nd (B) steel strings (or bronze) to make wire leaders and weed-guards. I am sure any guitar player would be happy to donate old strings to any non-musicians who wanted them. I go through more strings than I could ever tie flies on. So far, it looks like one nylon string will make about 12 medium (6-10) size streamers, and probably even more smaller nymph-size flies.
I am a drummer, so not much material there unless a drum head provides mylar for scud backs (but way too heavy). However I have gone to the music store to purchase BLACK nylon guitar strings to cut and heat to make eyes for larger nymphs, small muddlers, and grasshoppers, etc. Worked great!
Very nice work making those flies, how long does it take or hard is it to get the string material to stay on the hook as pictured? The flies look very lifelike.
The Nylon string is not that hard to wrap, but you do need to keep some tight pressure on it until you get it cinched, or it will explode off of the hook. And you need to cinch it down real good before turning loose of it, at least 15 to 20 tight wraps. Kevlar thread would be great for this because you could really put some tension on it, without it breaking. And there would be little danger of cutting the nylon with it.
