>List > >Today I tuned a new Baldwin console with the tenor wound strings having a >triangular core which extended about an inch into the windings. From that >point on the core was round. This was true on the two wound strings on the >treble break side and about the first 4 or 5 on the bass side, and then the >rest were normal. (Round) Some new innovation? It seemingly made those >unisons more difficult to tune. If that was their intention, I label it a >success. I have not noticed this yet on new Baldwins but I remember hearing David Sanderson talk about experimenting with the shape of the swedge. He found the triangular shape to have the least problems. > >This reminded me of something I had been meaning to ask about. I have >noticed on some spinet pianos that this same tenor and high bass area has >wound strings that are kind of "bumpy" for the last inch or so before the >winding stops. I can't find the words to quite describe this, but I'm sure >some of you have seen this because I've seen it on numerous pianos. It looks >as if it were kind of braided, or something. It's not the swedge of the >steel core. They're not double-wound strings. It's just uneven and the >uneveness seems to spiral around the string. It seems to be there by design, >because there will be several of them in a row, all looking the same, >but....just different than the strings on every other piano. I discovered that that was caused by the copper wrap being tucked under the visible part of the wrap. How do I describe this.... They start wrapping an inch or so behind where they want the wrap to start and then overlap that. Sort of the same way as a tailor will sew backwards and then forward overlapping the stitch to make it more secure. I have seen this on some European pianos too. I used to think it was caused by twisting the string too much when they installed it. chris -- Christopher D. Purdy R.P.T. School of Music, Ohio University Athens, Ohio 45701 (740) 593-1656 fax (740) 593-1429 purdy@ohiou.edu
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