Fortepiano Wire (was Re: Brass wire)

[Fred S. Sturm]

Jeff,
    Blaine just gave you Lutz's web-site (which I was about to do). There are
a few other suppliers of bulk stuff for harpsichords and fortepianos, as well
as makers, etc. at http://www.west.net/~mfitz/hub.htm.
    You wrote "the wire broke where it crosses the loop." I'm not sure how to
interpret that. Do you mean on the tuning pin? Is the wire crossing the coil
on the pin as it leaves the pin? With brass wire, you need to be careful to
avoid any kind of kinking, as in crossing over a bit of wire - one example
being if wire is pulled through the becket and then "folded down" to lie under
the coils, to hold better to the pin. (With enough coils, this is
unnecessary). If this is done, the end of that "waste length" should be bent
outwards or cut off so that the last coil doesn't cross it. The other "trick"
is to have the final, bottom coil (or two) pushed down on the pin (not neatly
pushed together as we do on pianos). This avoids the possibility of ththe wire
crossing the coil as it leaves the pin, and creates a bit more bearing on the
nut, which may also be desireable.
    For making tails (the part that fits on the hitchpin), a good, easy,
reliable design is to copy what Samick does on its grands where all the treble
strings have tails. Twice around the hitch pin, then three or four coils
around the wire, then leave a bit of excess that lies securely on the hitchpin
rail. For aethetic reasons, I always prefer to match whatever the maker did,
but this design works real well, and is perhaps the least likely to create
breakage at the hitch pin. When creating double helix coils (like standard
piano bass strings have), it is easy to get them too tight (breakage) or too
loose (slippage) if you are new at the game. Breakage is more common for
brass, slippage for steel, with this design.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico

Jeff Tanner wrote:

> Hi Avery,
> I tried twice to splice it and both times the wire broke where it crosses
> the loop, just as I got it almost to pitch.  We happened to have a few
> premade strings with loops from the manufacturer, and one of them was close
> enough to the correct diameter to use for the concert.  So, I replaced it.
> The performers created a break about halfway through the program and I went
> in and touched it up in my blue jeans and flannel shirt. (Had I known....)
>
> But we don't have a full compliment of replacement strings for our
> instruments, and I'm wondering the same thing you are.  Is there a source
> for bulk wire we can use?  We have altogether about 7 instruments which use
> brass, phosphor bronze and iron wire, and maybe it's just the piano
> technician in me being spoiled by having bulk wire available, but the way
> our budget works, it would seem more prepared, and maybe more cost
> effective to have rolls of wire handy.
>
> APSCO had brass wire coils it the catalog, but phfft, how much good is that
> now?
>
> One more question for the historical instrument pros out there.  How much
> thinning does this wire do in the stretching process and how much should we
> allow when micing the wire for replacement?  I couldn't find my micrometer
> yesterday (yeah, I found it AFTER the concert), and the wire I installed
> (the smallest we had) felt slightly larger than what came off, but after it
> stretched to pitch the difference didn't seem to be as much.  I still
> haven't measured the wire that came off, but I will before we order more
> wire, and I need to know how to do that in the future.
>
> Jeff
>
> >Hi Jeff,
> >
> >Well, what did you end up doing? :-) I'm actually asking this because of
> >your original post. We should be getting our new Fortepiano sometime
> >in the next six months or so and your post made me wonder about what to
> >do about this kind of thing. Are there sources, other than the builder,
> >where we can order wire to have on hand for this eventuality? We order
> >our replacement harpsichord strings to have on hand from the builders.
> >
> >Hopefully, I'll be retired before this type of thing starts happening
> >but just in case.......  :-)
> >
> >Thanks.
> >Avery
> >
>
> _______________________________________________
> caut list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives