stretching wire

[Farrell]

It does - albeit slowly.

Terry Farrell

----- Original Message ----- 
> Wouldn't the tuning pin fill with additional wire?
> Paul C
>
>> There is no appreciable (nothing is absolute, but it's inconsequential)
>> long term stretch, or creep, of piano wire below it's yield point tension
>> and under around 600°F. So "pre-stretching" doesn't pre-stretch. It will
>> naturally immediately stretch under tension within it's elastic limits,
>> but long term pitch drop doesn't come from elongating wire. If the 
>> strings
>> aren't forcefully bent around the bearing points, they will slowly do so
>> on their own under string tension and play, dropping in pitch as the
>> wire's path between bearing points straightens. Remember that, while the
>> straight string segments are (hopefully) well below their yield point
>> tensions, the bends at the bearing points have been forced beyond the
>> wire's yield point in order to make the bend.
>> Ron N