(Bose Question) - double loop eyes

Overs Pianos sec@overspianos.com.au
Thu, 4 Mar 2004 09:20:47 +1100


---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment
>Hello List and Avery
>There's two versions of the single string hitch loop. First there's 
>the [very] ordinary once-round-the-pin then the usual nice tight 
>wind- around-itself-twice-before-cutting-off type. Then there's the 
>wonderful Broadwood Hitch-pin Loop. This masterful loop dictates 
>going TWICE around the hitch-pin and then winding THREE times around 
>itself before bending down towards the loop and cutting off. I 
>really like the Broadwood version and gives me a great pleasure to 
>do a whole piano that way. The end result is tidy and 
>re-assuringly secure. I made a JIG to do this with ease. It consists 
>of a 10" length of 3" x 1 1/2" with a screw, a bit thicker than the 
>Hitch-Pin, vertically inserted and the head sawn off. The sharp end 
>was then filed smooth and round-edged for safety. Then, in a line 
>with each other I inserted another sawn off screw and a book holder 
>(you know - one of those thingys on the music desk) And there's the 
>jig. To use is ease in itself. The string is laid on the block, 
>under the book holder, beside the pin, and wound twice around the 
>dummy hitch-pin. Go a little further than 90deg to allow for 
>"unspringing". Remove the string with its nice new hitch loop and 
>grasp this same hitch loop with a good pair of "duck-billed" pliers. 
>Now simply wind the string onto itself thrice, bend it back toward 
>the loop and cut off, leaving about a 1/4" tail on the same plane as 
>the loop.
>Simple isn't it ?
>Regards from a misty-yet-sunny lunch-time in a Sussex Downland Village
>Michael G (UK)

Indeed Michael, the double loop eye makes a very nice string 
termination. My previous reservations about them was their tendency 
to pull tight onto the hitch pin, making subsequent removal 
difficult. However, after doing some experiments before completing 
our piano no. 4, and after making a special jig with various size 
spigots to enable the eyes to be formed the correct size for the 
hitch pin, I derived a procedure for making double loop eyes which do 
not tighten up on the hitch pin (the various spigot sizes were found 
to be necessary because I like the coil to be only just bigger than 
the hitch pin diameter, and the smaller wire gauges will finish up 
with larger diameter eyes unless a smaller spigot is used). The eyes 
are made by first bending a 90 degree kink in the wire before forming 
the eye. The back length wire segment must be clamped in the jig 
(before forming the eye around the spigot) to hold the kink up 
against the spigot. This prevents the kink from straightening out as 
the coil is wound, and it also allows for the eye to be wound such 
that the eye is centered relative to wire segment.

Furthermore, I discovered that the coil should be wound only until it 
is perpendicular to the back scale segment. While the coil unwraps 
slightly when it is taken off the jig, as it is pushed back over the 
back scale segment and down, before winding the finishing loops 
around the back length segment, the eye will close to the correct 
diameter. If the last coil is wrapped passed the point where it is 
perpendicular to the back scale segment, the last coil will end up 
slightly over-diameter, which (apart from spoiling it appearance) may 
allow the first-bent kink to slide away from the coil into the back 
scale segment.

We are now winding double loop eyes for our bass strings, and for the 
second string section which is loop-and-eye strung. I prefer the 
double loop eye to the English eye. The English eye stiffens the back 
scale segment, reducing the freedom of the sound board movement.

Ron O.
-- 
OVERS PIANOS - SYDNEY
    Grand Piano Manufacturers
_______________________

Web http://overspianos.com.au
mailto:info@overspianos.com.au
_______________________
---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/2d/57/e0/f3/attachment.htm

---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--

This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC