speaking of Mapes

[Carl Meyer]

Ron! Were the cores and wrap diameter correct?  A few moons ago I requested
that a few of the top strings (treble) have a core of .036.  They used .042
and didn't tell me.  When I asked they said they don't like to use anything
smaller than .042 since their machines can't handle it.  Seems their lathes
take off like a scalded dog and they are afraid the wire will twist at the
swage.  I guess they never heard of soft start.

 I'm getting a set of strings next week for my Emerson from James Arledge.
I will report.

Carl Meyer  Assoc. PTG
Santa Clara, California
cmpiano@attbi.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ron Nossaman" <RNossaman@KSCABLE.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Saturday, December 29, 2001 9:11 AM
Subject: speaking of Mapes


> I installed a set of Mapes made bass strings yesterday. I had ordered them
> with a pattern consisting of two small pieces of paper, one with the hitch
> and bridge pins, and one with the agraffes (an agraph, as it were), with
> the speaking lengths of the first and last string on the bridge. They also
> got a list of core and wrap diameters, with a request to get as close to
> 13mm bare end and wrap step lengths as possible.
>
> The strings arrived C.O.D., which surprised me (and quickly, which pleased
> me), with a notice that they no longer did 30 day net accounts, and
> requested a credit card number for future transactions if I wanted to
avoid
> C.O.D. charges.
>
> When I chipped the strings up to pitch, they came in to a real pretty and
> quite adequately uniform 13mm on both ends. They CAN do it, but they
> apparently want them paid for up front if you insist on eliminating their
> safety margin.
>
> I don't know how long they have been doing this, but I thought I'd pass it
> on if anyone is interested.
>
> Ron N