The kinks, was v-bar/capo repair

[A440A at aol.com]

I wrote: 
 
>       There is another way.  It doesn't require additional stuff and you 
can 
>tell instantly whether it is effective or not.  Using a string hook, capture 
>the offending wire between the capo bar and the string rest and  give the 
tool 
>a twist.  Just enough to create a barely discernable kink in the wire .  
 
Ed asks: 
 
   >>How long does this last?  Does the kink eventually release and go out of 
tune?
Have you ever broken a string doing this, or are you just kidding? >>

      Technicians NEVER break strings; strings do happen to break when we are 
moving them around, though. 
This technique lasts a long time, years in numerous cases.  As long as the 
plastic deformation limit is not surpassed, the kink stays there.  
     I believe that music wire accomodates itself to tension almost 
instantly, and the "stretching" process a new string undergoes is just the wire 
releasing tension around the outside radius where it is bent around the hitch and 
bridge pins, agraffes or capo, or any other point it is diverted from a staight 
line.   The vast majority of flatness I see in a new replacement string comes 
from the coil. This is because the friction between the coil and pin is 
sufficient to prevent the becket from ever seeing the full tension of the speaking 
length.  Ergo, the coil will continue giving up slack forever, (in the same 
sense that it is mathematically impossible to completely empty the water out of a 
discarded automobile tire).  Removing this slack upon installation helps the 
string to settle in, tremendously.  
    I have found that by gripping the coil with vise grips, and twisting it 
in the direction of pull, I can usually remove about 150 cents of flattening 
right when I install the string.  Another few days at pitch and the new string 
will be stable. (this is after progressively "hardening" the bends around the 
hitch and bridge pins, and lifting in front of the capo or agraffe, in that 
order).
  OOps, going off a tangent there.  
Regards, 



Ed Foote RPT 
http://www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/index.html
www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html