Knot tying (was:Re: Pitch Raising to A440.......Or Not?

[John M. Formsma]

It took me a while to become familiar and comfortable with splicing since I
was doing it infrequently. Here is the way I like to remember it. I hope I
remember it OK. :-)

1. Get your round nose pliers and make a counterclockwise loop on the broken
wire, bringing the tail end on the upper side of the loop. The tail needs to
be approximately at a 90 degree angle to the "straight" wire. (Sometimes it
helps to bend the loop slightly.)

2. Then get your wire which will go to the tuning pin, and make the same
counterclockwise loop, except bring the tail end on the lower side of the
loop. (You have to make this loop large enough to fit over the first loop.
Sometimes it helps to bend the loop slightly to get a good "fit" with the
other loop. You will, of course, bend this in the opposite direction as the
first one.)

3. Now work the 2nd loop over the first, and align the two loops so that the
two tails will point in opposite directions. Insert the wire end through the
first loop, and you are ready to tighten after squeezing the loops with a
needle nose pliers to make them smaller.

If I remember correctly, you can also make clockwise loops, and the above
will work. There are several other knots that can be done, but this is the
one I use most. There is a Journal article by Bill Spurlock which has the
several knots described and illustrated.

John Formsma
Blue Mountain, MS
PTG Associate, Memphis Chapter

mailto:jformsma@dixie-net.com