Harpsichord Wire

[Stephen Birkett]

Fred wrote:

>.... Probably what you say looks like copper is "red brass." And what 
>looks like brass is "yellow brass." It would be nice if you could find a 
>manual or stringing chart (which should be somewhere with the instrument). 
>BTW, if you DO have trouble with breakage (not caused by bad tails or 
>crossed windings on the pin), go thinner, not thicker. Kind of 
>counterintuitive, but that's how it works (not to get into theory).

For a bit of background on historical soft iron wire I have an article on 
my website that may be of interest. It's a frames site which I haven't got 
around to changing yet, so I'll give the pathway to get there instead of 
the url:
  http://real.uwaterloo.ca/~sbirkett
Select "historical materials", then "wire", then "article".

The reason the thinner wire is stronger (meaning breaking tension per 
cross-sectional area) is tensile pickup - being more finely drawn, without 
intermediate annealing, the material becomes more work-hardened each time 
through the die. The pickup rate for brass is quite small compared to iron. 
Phosphor bronze (best used for holding up shower curtains) - I have no idea 
how the stuff is made. Modern high-carbon steel wire has a non-zero pickup 
rate, but it's also very small because of the heat-treatment process used 
in intermediate steps in the drawing process.

Stephen

Stephen Birkett Fortepianos
Authentic Reproductions of 18th and 19th Century Pianos
464 Winchester Drive
Waterloo, Ontario
Canada N2T 1K5
tel: 519-885-2228
mailto: sbirkett[at]real.uwaterloo.ca
http://real.uwaterloo.ca/~sbirkett