Tub spout with shower hose diverter help

Hi I have a long pipe coming out of my shower wall for the faucet and diverter to screw on to.
Its a wicked cheasy diverter spout and to get a good metal diverter spoout for my handheld shower I need a half inch pipe thread coming out of my wall a half inch. Is there a way to just cut the pipe down to protrude a half inch from the wall and then tread the pipe? Thankjs

 

Can you post some pictures of what you have?

Yes you can cut the pipe. How you cut it depends on what it's made of. If it's copper a tubing cutter works best. If it's steel you'll need a hack saw or reciprocating saw with a fine tooth blade for cutting metal.

As for the threads again it depends on what your pipe is made of. If it's copper you can sweat on a fitting that has male threads. If your pipe is steel you'll need a die to cut threads into the steel but that's beyond the capability of most people.

Depending on what you have you may not even need to cut your existing pipe. You might be able to unscrew the pipe coming from the wall and install a new, shorter pipe nipple. They are sold in most plumbing stores and the plumbing section of big box home centers. they have both ends already threaded and are available in different lengths.