Firstly i'll say the best way to do it is purchase a pair of Mr Clean - "Whats Going On?" 7"'s on Jazzman, they've got the Serato tone on the flip! The 12's we hacked down to make 7's work a treat but they DON'T have a run in strip at the beginning. So when you needle drop at the start the tune on SSL doesn't start at the beginning, even though you can alter this in the settings, it still doesn't work so well. All we used though was a good pair of scissors and cut slowly and only take small pieces off as you go. You've got plenty of cutting area to practice on before you get near the 7" size required. Also we only did it 1) because they were only available if you happened to be in the right place at the time ie: freebies at Namm! and 2) I bought my SSL off a beta tester guy and he had 4 spare CV1's with it as well as a pair of CV2's. Oh and one more thing if you are gonna get the scissors out....anticipate the CLAW hand!!!!!!