String Breakage (Reply)

[Newton Hunt]

Some more splicing writing.

When I was doing a lot of concert work I spliced to keep the piano
playing.
Most of my splices held for another few years before it broke again or
at the bridge end.

There is a knot that looks like, and actually is, a square knot.  This
knot takes more string length to tie than the loop type so it will not
work at an agraffe.

My only problem with knots is that sometimes my finger gets cut on a
sticking up end.

I have scratched a plate or two and I have torn some felt.  What I like
to do is put a palette knife under the knot until it comes up to pitch.
That protects the piano.

I have succeeded to putting knots in surprising places, and afterward
wondered how I did it.

In uprights you can make the knot then feed it over the v-bar and under
the pressure bar with no difficulty.

It may take weeks to get a replacement string and I don't like making
customers wait that long. S Splicing helps.

The way to get the best possible sound from a "Universal" string is to
match the core first then the wrap.  The core determines inharmonicity
and the core determines tension.  Inharmonicity first.  Nonetheless, I
do not like 'universals' and have not used more than two in the last 15
years.

I may have done a bunch in ten minutes but I don't think I can get out
all the tools in five minutes.

Ron Nossman wrote:

>Bending wire take out the temper so softening can be a problem.
*The other direction, I think. Work hardening from bending makes it more

brittle. But then it shouldn't pinch in two, should it?

In this case, no, making such tight bends heats the wire and anneals it,
so the wire becomes softer, which allows the loops to become as tight as
they do.

>Not getting the loop tails pointed in opposite directions will cause a
splice failure.
*Nope, that ain't it. I make "by the book" knots, always have.

What book and what type of knot are you referring to?

There is a limit to how much tension a splice can endure.  Someone had a
formulae for this but I cannot find my copy.

Different strings have different tensile strengths.  Test your piece of
wire by making successive 90 degree bends at the same place.  The higher
number of bends will determine it's "splicability". Several years ago
there was a bad batch of 16 guage wire which was to brittle it had to be
replaced in all pianos.

One final note, I find splicing much easier than replacing a string.
Not always less time consuming, but if it breaks and I don't have the
string for replacement then a splicing I will go.

Thank you all for your responses.

                    Newton