just what is 7/32"?

[Ron Nossaman]

><<7/32" = .21875.
>
>  Agreed,  I think industry standard is .218"

The new (last year's) 7/32" I find in the drawer mic 0.213, and the 1/4" I
just pulled out of an old S&S B is 2.44. New 1/4"=2.43.


>>Have you 'tried' 1/4" graff?>>
>   Well, I looked at one, but that is way too big for this.  Why was 7/8" 
>bigger in 1920?
>Wondering, 
>Ed Foote RPT


Of course it was bigger. Look at dimension lumber. As far as being
reluctant to tap out the existing holes to 1/4", I've done it on a couple
of sets in the last three years when supply house agraffes didn't fit
adequately, and it works much better than trying to worry up a set of non
existent exact replacements corresponding to extinct measurements from the
past. I don't see this as any different from all the heroic action geometry
corrections everyone now routinely does on old Steinways, except it's much
easier. I'll grant you it's not all that exciting standing there running a
tap, but those new agraffes sure go in nice. The job gets done too.

Errata: Do you suppose the stem length on the new 7/32 is so much longer
than the 1/4 to somewhat offset the sloppy fit by getting threads deeper in
the iron? Why else are they so long? They wouldn't pull out of a decent set
of threads in the iron of the stems were 1/3 that long. Is the modern 7/32
agraffe fit so sloppy to encourage solid shoulder seating on the spot face
without bending the stem, or is it just lousy machining?

Ron N