Twisting bass strings (physics)

[Ron Nossaman]

>I've always wondered why you can twist the bass strings with obvious good
>results, but need be so careful to avoid twists in installing plain steel
>strings. "False beats!" was the warning.
>
>Now, after all this erudite hoo-hah about the physics of soundboards, I
>wonder if some of the scientific-minded might describe what happens to a
>string that is twisted, tensed, and struck? Clearly, twisting tightens the
>copper wrapping; but what does it do to the sound-generating qualities of
>the core (or of a plain steel string)? And how do "false beats" enter the
>picture?

Erudite hoo-hah being what it is, you don't need to worry at all about
twisting plain strings on installation. It doesn't make any detectable
difference whatsoever one way or another. It tightens the wrap on wrapped
strings - if you twist them the right way. False beats in plain strings
mostly result from loose bridge pins, and mostly in the mid to upper
treble. Kinks in wire can cause odd noises lower down in the scale, but
twisting isn't normally or realistically a factor. That's yet another of
the "conventional wisdom" things that doesn't actually prove to be the case
in practice. 


>Maybe the only real concern in the plain strings is that a twist *and* a
>U-turn around the hitch pin might create a "kink", and maybe THAT's the
>source of false beats. But I'd like to understand the physics better.
>
>Inquiring minds want to know.
>
>jason kanter * piano tuning * piano teaching

In this case, the physics are just fine. It's the concept is stillborn.

Ron N