String tying

[Joe & Penny Goss]

Hi,
Someone wrote asking about string knots, and I see no one as yet has
responded to them.

There seem to me to be only two knots that are used and three that are all
related to the same idea of joining two pieces of wire together.

To keep it simple ( I hope ) all examples given will be right handed.

To tie the square knot;
Hold bass wire with broken end up and make a loop eye so that a portion
about 1/4 inch sticks past the core part of the wire on either side. Call
this sticking out part the foot.
Next  bend the wire across this foot.

Be sure and note which side the foot crossed the wire. Both should be on the
same side when held up with the loop up.

With both loops made and bent across the foot and the splice wire eye large
enough to pass over the winding you will now notice that you should have
made the splice eye first for you can not got it over the bass eye loop.
However here is the point that you need to see. If the eye loops are made
identical when reversed they will form a square knot. If they are not the
same you will have a granny knot. I find that both will hold fine.

The second knot uses one eye loop and a U. Actually a J but it is hard for
me to describe.
The eye loop is bent over the foot as in the square knot.
The U must be bent both at the short end and the long end to allow the
splice to be fed into the eye on the bass string. With the length of the JU
about 1/2 inch  use vise grips to  hold the bottom of the U and make a 10%
bend in both wires.  This will allow the U when almost closed to be passed
behind the string and both ends going into the eye loop.
The advantage, if any to this knot is that one does not have to make a eye
that will fit over the winding but you do need a large eye on the bass
string to work with.
My sugestion would be to work with soft iron wire.
Or if you order a level ( the new ones are on line ) I will send you the
three knots in soft iron wire
Joe Goss Mother Goose Music
imatunr@primenet.com
http://www.primenet.com/~imatunr/