wierdly wound strings

[Christopher D. Purdy]

>List
>
>Today I tuned a new Baldwin console with the tenor wound strings having a
>triangular core which extended about an inch into the windings. From that
>point on the core was round.  This was true on the two wound strings on the
>treble break side and about the first 4 or 5 on the  bass side, and then the
>rest were normal.  (Round)  Some new innovation?  It seemingly made those
>unisons more difficult to tune.  If that was their intention, I label it a
>success.

I have not noticed this yet on new Baldwins but I remember hearing 
David Sanderson talk about experimenting with the shape of the 
swedge.  He found the triangular shape to have the least problems.



>
>This reminded me of something I had been meaning to ask about.  I have
>noticed on some spinet pianos that this same tenor and high bass area has
>wound strings that are kind of "bumpy" for the last inch or so before the
>winding stops.  I can't find the words to quite describe this, but I'm sure
>some of you have seen this because I've seen it on numerous pianos.  It looks
>as if it were kind of braided, or something.  It's not the swedge of the
>steel core.   They're not double-wound strings.  It's just  uneven and the
>uneveness seems to spiral around the string.  It seems to be there by design,
>because there will be several of them in a row, all looking the  same,
>but....just different than the strings on every other piano.


I discovered that that was caused by the copper wrap being tucked 
under the visible part of the wrap.  How do I describe this....  They 
start wrapping an inch or so behind where they want the wrap to start 
and then overlap that.  Sort of the same way as a tailor will sew 
backwards and then forward overlapping the stitch to make it more 
secure.

I have seen this on some European pianos too.  I used to think it was 
caused by twisting the string too much when they installed it.

chris
-- 
Christopher D. Purdy R.P.T.
School of Music, Ohio University
Athens, Ohio  45701
(740) 593-1656
fax (740) 593-1429
purdy@ohiou.edu