At 4:42 PM -0500 12/9/01, Erwinspiano@aol.com wrote: > Do you think the sound of the plain wire is a significant improvement? If so >can you provide me with a Name , address, price list etc. I would >love to try a batch of something better. Roslau has done a great >marketing job on us but the results are lackluster or hey guys Am I >the only one who would be interested in better sounding plain wire. >Please speak up. A larger order would be more economical to ship. I get the wire from the supply house Meyne and it had their name on it, but they will not tell me who makes it. I have an idea it is possibly the people who make Degen copper wire, but that's only a guess. I'll let you have details tomorrow. They seem to be a friendly firm, though they're not the cheapest, and they do some good ranges. I pay more for this wire than I would for Röslau, but I don't mind paying for quality. After all the cost of the wire for a piano is a tiny fraction of the total cost. I've only recently switched to the Meyne wire and have so far only done a full resting on one piano, though I now have three more I shall be doing in the next two months. The piano I did was a 1907 Schiedmayer upright and it is quite tremendous -- makes a Steinway O sound rather silly! It's difficult to know how much difference the wire makes, but certainly this piano now simply sparkles and has such depth and warmth and power that I can't remember coming across a better-sounding upright, except perhaps the Lipp. The next job is a Lipp upright which sounds good as it is but needs everything doing, so we'll see what the Meyne wire does there. >>I prefer the new wire, but it is not Poehlmann and never will be. I >>have spoken to a very old English maker about analysing and >>remanufacturing Poehlmann wire and he was quite interested in the >>idea, but other things took precedence and I have not pursued the >>matter. As you say, it is possible to analyse the alloy, but that is >>only a part of the solution. How the wire is drawn and annealed is >>just as critical, and a lot of research would be needed to retrieve >>the lost art of Poehlmann. One thing I forgot to mention about the old Poehlmann wire. The old timers who used it found that it took a long time to settle and found when they changed to Röslau that they could get a piano to stand much quicker. However, that was within living memory and it's quite possible Poehlmann were not so clever themselves by then as they had been in 1867 +. However, this suggests a very different molecular structure. I keep some by from old bass strings people send me with the aim of getting some tests done one day. > > JD this is an idea thats time may have come. I'd also wonder of >the feasability of you making a set of strings for the bluethner I >wrrote you about. Would shipping be prohibitive. What do you charge >for a set of strings? I'll work it out in $$ and find out about the shipping. I'd love to make you a set and would give you a nice goodwill discount! Then you acn see what whipping is :-) The last set I made for America was through David Winston and he told me the strings caused much comment, especially as they'd never seen whipped ends before. > > > I wonder how we could do some research on finding a better wire >supply. I know that Ari Isaac used japanese wire which he thought >was better and would handle higher tension loads which were >evidenced by his string scales. I believe he had to buy a certain >quantity to get a decent price. Thats business of course. Yes, that's one reason I have to pay more. I used to get the copper and steel from one supply house and they gave me very good prices. I'm a new customer of Meyne's. > > Ron O and N ,Del ,John Hartman ,Bob Davis other rebuilders any >feedback interest or ideas on this. > > Stirring the pot-------Dale Erwin-- > Jd thanks for the lengthy and informative post
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