Cello end pin retrieval

[nathan slobodkin]

Anyone have a way to get an endpin out of the inside of a cello? Yes, I mean inside. Like rolling around in there. 

[duane88]

I use one of the magnetic screw retrieval things from the auto parts store:

Magnetic Pick Up Tool - Rivets - bolts - nuts - SPR Rivets

Pick it up and guide it toward the end pin housing hole.

[Nick Lewis]

It happens. I like the magnetic thing idea. I’ve used a long thin pair of pliers type things. 

Then make sure you put a bolt on the end so it doesn’t go all the way inside next time! 

[Mark Norfleet]

I like the magnetic pickup tool idea.  Harbor Freight sells a telescoping one with a pretty strong magnet.

[Davide Sora]

Hoping it's not a carbon fiber rod with a titanium tip.

In this case, you could try using a piece of sewing thread with a sliding noose on one end, inserting it through an F-hole, and trying to catch the rod in the noose. Then, pulling the thread out of the hole in the lower block, you can use it to pull the rod out. It's a little fiddly, but it works.

[duane88]

43 minutes ago, Davide Sora said:

Hoping it's not a carbon fiber rod with a titanium tip.

In this case, you could try using a piece of sewing thread with a sliding noose on one end, inserting it through an F-hole, and trying to catch the rod in the noose. Then, pulling the thread out of the hole in the lower block, you can use it to pull the rod out. It's a little fiddly, but it works.

Once, for a CF endpin, I used thick CA on a piece of soundpost. when it had dried (waited longer on the 2nd try...) i gently lifted it up and guided it toward the endpin hole.

[Ed Shillitoe]

I've done it several times like this.  I take the assembly out of the cello to make the hole bigger.  Then I grip the endpin with two soundpost retrieving tools, one in each hand and one placed through each f hole while I stand behind the end of the cello.  You need two because with just one the pin just flops around and can not be controlled.  Then I crouch down, look through the endpin hole, then lift up the endpin, point the sharp end directly into my eye and pull the pin towards me.   It comes out through the hole usually on the first try.      

[The Violin Beautiful]

A Soundpost retriever, an auto part grabber, or a magnet on a stick can all be used to accomplish this. I’ve done it several times. One time I made a little lasso with rehairing thread, fed it into the endpin hole, looped it around the nut below the sharp point, then fished it out through the endpin hole. 

[Mike_Danielson]

amazon.com/TOPPUSIDO-Flexible-Magnetic-Spring-Loaded-Bathroom/dp/B0GJRZJZWX/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=2PGF21JKJX05&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.eoDD_Tfjbi1JnYCX_aSt5qVZjsoNsMqzCq7hVhR93shWQFHdBHB33mMXz62wf5viEz6KfpVnPYRl3tcvYtliqjCepALPBwMNwdzsJS3AdTisQrQyDEnkk1T4L45aSpSCGO3JT4iJ_i-uM-ztfgtyd74l2lD14lMzALuI2elBuXzdj0JhFbzACnxNUsZelgv3lrQwoFmIzSKZBe8PIvXGeSEjJRnDaa5W0duF4-DaBdJTXfL-E79O95at6Vt8ShwfblMOiIvt0rd8pZ1ReOztLYzoGq_udrBlTAKH4RYefzY.zyKdjfE0zBeOjLNJ4JcuttKY9lbRll9SBHu80WBnrXI&dib_tag=se&keywords=four+prong+grabber&qid=1782352386&sprefix=four+prong+grabber%2Caps%2C263&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1

Reacher-grabber from amazon.  Every home should have one of these.  

[Jeffrey Holmes]

[Andreas Preuss]

4 minutes ago, Jeffrey Holmes said:

That’s what I would suggest too.

[Brad Dorsey]

I use that, too.  (And a magnet.)  It’s  also what’s recommended in the Weisshaar book.

[nathan slobodkin]

Thanks folks. Yes, carbon fiber rod. Lifting with modified sound post retriever to allow getting the spring retriever firmly on the end did the trick. It takes really wide set eyes to see through the FF hole and the hole in the block at the same time.

[Brad Dorsey]

I think I have always retrieved dropped cello end pins through an F hole -- not through the end pin hole.

[nathan slobodkin]

11 hours ago, Brad Dorsey said:

I think I have always retrieved dropped cello end pins through an F hole -- not through the end pin hole.

In this case the pin was long enough so it bypassed the FFs in either direction.