String Leveling

[A440A@AOL.COM]

Greetings, 
Larry asked: 
 inre: Robinson
>Strate-mate used for leveling strings.
 >Any thoughts, comments, advice on how to use this device?

  I use it to straighten the wire coming out of the agraffes and capos.  I use
it with care, since it is possible to not only break a string with too much
force, but it is also easy to stretch the wire so much that you distort it
somewhere, which really invites voicing problems, false beats, or "bad
sounds".
  Its use does assist the wire in relieving the "restorative flex"  that
exists in front of the capos.  I would advise that one first get accustomed to
how much force is required to affect a change.  This can be done by lifting
two out of the three strings on a trichord with gradually increasing force,
until you can feel that the two are slightly higher.  This amount of force,
plus a little for the third string is enough.  you can aurally tell when you
have changed it, but that may be pulling loose wire out of the backstring or
top. 
    With the sensitivity of our finger, we can detect a very slight amount of
lift, and I usually content myself with that force and no more.  The bass I do
by hand, as I don't want to distort windings.  I am not superstitious about
much, but bass strings are one of them. 
     It has its particular time and place. Its important, I think, to do the
straightening after you have chipped and tuned up to pitch for a week or two.
Using it right away will cause all of the bends formed to migrate on toward
the tuning pins.   I usually use it right before I mate hammers to strings,
which is to say, late in the stringing process.
Good luck, 
Ed Foote