String Info Please

[John Delacour]

At 11:08 -0700 19/3/08, David Ilvedson wrote:

>...I have had the winding of the made string be a little short of 
>the other string.   Am I suppose to add a little length to the 
>winding?  Is the string maker suppose to do this him/herself?

The stringmaker needs to know whether you have measured the string 
under tension or off the piano, because the string will come say 8 - 
15 mm closer to the top bridge when it's pulled to pitch.  If you 
don't tell him and he can't be bothered to ask, he will play safe, 
assume you measured it under tension and make it shorter than your 
measurement to allow for average stretch.

When you consider the price of an odd string you can't expect the 
stringmaker to spend time and money phoning everyone who gives 
incomplete information.  You should give all the available 
dimensions, state which note the string belongs to and say whether 
you took the lengths under tension or not.

JD