I'm just starting my chocolatier business from home and I'm looking for a mini guitar. I would also like to hear your thoughts/opinions about which brand to purchase and experience.

Thanks,

Annalynn

updated by @annalynn: 06/29/23 16:49:02

Annalynn -

There are not many options for small guitar cutters. One is available through Chef Rubber (www.chefrubber.com). Click on the Search box and type ' guitar ' into the search box on the next page. The mini-guitar plus accessories are listed there.

They are still not cheap, and one difference between this and larger options is that the base is plastic, not metal.

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clay - http://www.thechocolatelife.com/clay/

Thanks, Clay. I haven't heard/read great things about the plastic pieces. Sounds like I may need to wait for a used guitar. Hopefully something reasonable pops up soon. 

Annalynn,

I haven't used a guitar with the plastic base, but I was able to pick up a used guitar on here. It is a dedy. I love that thing. As a high-demand item it retained it's value and while we were able to pick it up for a few hundred bucks below retail, it wasn't cheap by any stretch.

As you can imagine, having the guitar helped us make far better use of our time. It saves a lot of time in cutting the pieces of candy and it is great that they come out uniformly shaped.

I think one of the best things about the metal framed guitar is how easy it is to clean. - I imagine that a plactic base one would have little pieces of chocolate, ganache, fondant, or whatever else you are cutting that would get stuck down inside the grooves. Yuck. Cleaning that out would take awhile.  With the metal frame, you just wash the top and bottom. - the grooves aren't an issue because they are only as deep as the metal is thick.

The dedy's come in two spacings 5mm and 7.5mm. this is the spacing of the grooves in the base. Depending on the width of your final piece, you may want one or the other. i.e. you can do 22.5mm on a 7.5mm base, but not on a 5mm base. Please keep that in mind as you look for a used one.

Welcome to TheChocolateLife. It's great here.

Larry

 

 

 

Larry,

Thanks for the warm welcome and the tips on the Dedy. The more I look into a guitar cutter, the more I'm inclined to purchase a Dedy and it sounds like I should go with the 7mm.

I've only been around TheChocolateLife for a week and I love it already!

Now, I'm on a hunt for that guitar cutter.

Cheers,

Annalynn

Annalynn,

I saw your post about looking for a guitar cutter. I wanted to point out a few more helpful things.

There are several frames that have the wires strung across with different spacing. identifying which spacing you are looking for would be helpful to get what you want. The wire spacing options for the 7.5mm base are 15mm, 22.5mm, 30mm, and 37.5mm. You could remove some wires if needed for different spacing. i.e. if you wanted a 45mm piece cut a 15 or 22.5mm frame with some wires removed would do the trick. 

Also, they don't make a 7mm base. it is 7.5mm.

Happy guitar hunting,

Larry

Thanks, Larry! All very helpful. Based on sizing, I think I'm more keen to having a 15 mm and 22.5 mm frame. I shall update.

Cheers,

Annalynn

updated by @annalynn: 11/05/15 11:45:36

Hi Larry,

Would you suggest getting a guitar cutter with a 5mm or 7.5 mm base? I'm wondering if there is a "standard". My hope is to make some savory chocolates which will be smaller in size, but for larger pieces, I'm wondering if there's a more common size (e.g. candy cups, etc.).

Thanks,

Annalynn

 

I'm not aware of a standard size. the 7.5MM base worked out well for me, and we were lucky enough to find one on here.

When we hand-cut our pieces, they were just under 1" square. Thus the 22.5MM frame was a flawless transition.

There should be plenty of packaging to fit your piece.

-a word on ordering candy cups from my experience. pay attention to the base size and the # cup. Make sure they match. I ordered a case of candy cups that were "Supposed" to be exactly what I needed. However when they came, they were a different size. The seller's PDF showing the different cups available had a space in the wrong location. So, the size was actually a LOT smaller than anticipated. The candy cup number i.e. #4, #5... was correct, but it had the wrong description. The seller worked with me to correct the problem, and offered me a discount on another case of candy cups that were the right size, but I still have a large case of very small candy cups... Just sayin, read the label on the case before you open it...  

Oh the things you learn.