Twisting bass strings (physics)

[Jason Kanter]

So: what if I twisted a plain steel string, say, five full turns before
pounding in the tuning pin and pulling it up to tension? Ten turns? From the
physics viewpoint, this is a non-issue? And if it IS an issue, at what point
does it become a non-issue? and why?

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jason kanter * piano tuning * piano teaching
bellevue, wa * 425 562 4127 * cell 425 831 1561
orcas island * 360 376 2799
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> From: Ron Nossaman <RNossaman@KSCABLE.com>
> Reply-To: pianotech@ptg.org
> Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2002 19:59:36 -0600
> To: pianotech@ptg.org
> Subject: Re: Twisting bass strings (physics)
> 
>> 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