String tension (was : Birdcage pitch raise)

[Stéphane Collin]

Hi Ron.

Thanks for chiming in.

Philippe says : "I also don't understand why higher tension shortens the 
sustain. "
You answer : "I don't understand why either, because it doesn't."
May I precise again : for a certain string with a fixed diameter in a piano, 
when you raise it's tension, you raise it's pitch, lower it's inharmonicity, 
and shorten it's sustain.  Agreed ?
Do I understand you that your higher trebble strings have higher tension 
than traditionnals, because their length is longer, and that they have 
longer sustain ... but for me, it is the extra mass of the strings that is 
partly responsible of the sustain lengthening, together with the more 
optimal position of the bridge on the soundboard at that place, not the 
extra tension.  Agreed ?
Intuitively, an ideal string whose breaking strength was infinite, and the 
tension you put on it infinite too, could barely move, if the rules of 
physics still applied continuously the same way as they do in the range that 
we observe.  The higher the tension, the lower the flexibility (good for 
inharmonicity, bad for sustain), and the higher the elasticity.

What do you think ?

Best regards.

Stéphane Collin.