Ron, Why would you presume that the plating be copper? The only reason copper is used on bass strings, is that it's the easiest material and it has the longest tonal life, under the established method of adding mass to strings. If the plating system were viable, then several different types of metal could be used, depending on the tone desired. The attempt by many manufacturers of the late 1800's, early 1900's were trying different metals for adding mass to the bass strings. Hence we have Iron wound strings, Silnic, Copper plated iron and there's probably a few others we haven't even detected. Then, of course, there is the Aluminum winding fiasco of the 1970's. I agree with you, that a lot of things done to the piano have made it sound less like a piano and more like a coffee can full of broken glass or .....whatever. Most of this stuff was done with the idea of expediency and cheapening the manufacturing process. I was merely "supposing" "if it were possible". If it were possible, then possibly we would/could almost completely eliminate the longitudinal inharmonicity problem. Of course the real world is....taint economical/practical to do, but I can dream can't I? <G> Best Regards Joe Garrett, RPT, (Oregon) Been There, Didn't Like It, So I'm Here To Stay! [G}
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