Frank and Stéphane, Why wouldn't it be desirable to reduce inharmonicity ? Isn't it the reason why one expect a full length grand piano to be better than an upright type ? I also don't understand why higher tension shortens the sustain. I would have expected the resonance factor to be more important in comparaison with the losses by transmitting it's energy to the air or in the metal itself. So, shouldn't it lenthen the sustain instead of shortening it ? Also, about the power... Am I correct, if I say that it give more energy for the same amount of vibrations, and so you may have a louder sound, on the condition, that you have more weight in your hammer (so your keys will be harder) ? I observed that on my piano, the keys are much lighter than on some modern pianos. Or may be, is the louder sound related with the shorter sustain, the weight in the hammer having nothing to do with that ? Philippe ----- Original Message ----- From: "Frank Emerson" <pianoguru at earthlink.net> To: "Pianotech List" <pianotech at ptg.org> Sent: Friday, July 13, 2007 8:56 PM Subject: Re: String tension (was : Birdcage pitch raise) Stéphane > In my experience, when you raise the tension of a certain string, you raise > of course the pitch of the sound, you lower the inharmonicity (which is not > necessarily desirable) and you shorten the sustain (which is often not > desirable). You are correct. If you tune a string to a higher frequency, all else remaining the same, you decrease the inharmonicity. On the other hand, if in the scale design, you increase the diameter of the plain wires (and core wires of the wrapped strings), tuning the strings to the "correct" frequencies, all else remaining the same, you increase the tension, as well as the inharmonicity. Frank Emerso
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