Harpsichord Wire

[Fred S. Sturm]

    Actually, I think the reason the smaller diameter works (is "stronger" and
less likely to break) is because it takes a lower tension to produce the same
pitch. Has more to do with the mass of the wire, "slowing the vibrations"
through the operation of inertia. At the same tension, with the same length, a
thicker wire will sound lower. Meaning the thinner wire would have to be
lowered in tension to achieve the same pitch, the other factors being
constant. One _could_ string an entire harpsichord in .007" steel, and not
have string breakage. Or a piano in 13 gauge. Wouldn't sound very good, to say
the least.
    I remember the first time I came across a badly scaled point in a
harpsichord, with something like .016 brass that kept breaking. I kept trying
a thicker diameter, and it kept breaking. Then finally the light bulb went
off, I used .015, and it worked great.
    We're told, apocryphally though quite possibly somewhat correctly, that
harpsichord builders of early times scaled their instruments by using the
thickest wire that wouldn't break at any particular point of the scale. Then
moved the change of diamter down the scale a couple unisons to leave a bit of
room for error.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico

Stephen Birkett wrote:

> <snip>
> The reason the thinner wire is stronger (meaning breaking tension per
> cross-sectional area) is tensile pickup - being more finely drawn, without
> intermediate annealing, the material becomes more work-hardened each time
> through the die. The pickup rate for brass is quite small compared to iron.
> Phosphor bronze (best used for holding up shower curtains) - I have no idea
> how the stuff is made. Modern high-carbon steel wire has a non-zero pickup
> rate, but it's also very small because of the heat-treatment process used
> in intermediate steps in the drawing process.
>
> Stephen
>
> Stephen Birkett Fortepianos
> Authentic Reproductions of 18th and 19th Century Pianos
> 464 Winchester Drive
> Waterloo, Ontario
> Canada N2T 1K5
> tel: 519-885-2228
> mailto: sbirkett[at]real.uwaterloo.ca
> http://real.uwaterloo.ca/~sbirkett
>
> _______________________________________________
> caut list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives