Hex wire

[Ron Nossaman]

>I'll post again (if it helps) the tenor section on the 6'3" Sohmer - all is 
>plain wire trichord:
>
>Note is F#2 (note 22), wire size 22, speaking length 48 5/8"
>Note is G2 (note 23), wire size 22.  
>Note is G#2 (note 24), wire size 21, speaking length 46 1/2".
>Note is A2 (note 25), wire size 21.
>Note is A#2 (note 26), wire size 20, speaking length  47 7/8".  
>wire size 20 continues through D3.   

* Nope, it still doesn't tell us much. With the information given, the
unison tensions are in the 336lb @ 18%, to 400lb @ 25% range (which is
pretty low), and the inharmonicity is pretty high. And why does the length
get longer at A#2? Was that supposed to be 45 7/8, or was A2 supposed to
have been a wound string? There's still no indication of how all this fits
into the rest of the scale, so there isn't anything to work with for
recommendations. To make sense of what scaling is about, you really need to
measure all the speaking lengths (in either millimeters, or inches and
tenths of an inch, not fractions), core, and wrap diameters (in thousandths
of an inch) and have someone make you up a new scale so you can see how the
tension and inharmonicity curves match up, and how the breaking strength
percentages work through the scale. Just comparing the before and after
chart plots is a revelation (the differences between the old, and revised
scales can be quite dramatic), and then you can look at the numbers for
correlations. Even to just minimally salvage what you already have will
require more information as to what's above and below (EVERY length) what
you have here. Even at that, you're guessing at what the original total
tensions were, so you won't know what to do until you know what you have. 

You really ought to hire this one out as an educational expense, to use as a
benchmark reference for future scaling projects of your own. If you can give
us at least notes 16-32, we can maybe get a rough idea how afraid to be.  %-) 


>Bill Shull
>University of Redlands, La Sierra University
>Loma Linda, CA


 Ron