[CAUT] Hardness of termination vs string breakage (was Re: restrung D)

[RicB]

Hi David

I believe I remember Ron O's post well enough.  He employs (or did at 
that time) a sharp V profile with hardened capo and a moderate offset 
angle and front lengths if I am not mistaken. He seems to have found a 
happy balance in the trade offs forced between the need for a clean 
termination, enough counter bearing  and accompanying appropriate front 
lengths to prevent noise, and a capo surface area whose dimensions and 
hardness degree do no precipitate the strings being sliced in two.  I 
remember being a bit surprised at his employment of <<sharp and hard>> 
at the time. But with short enough front lengths and moderate enough 
counter bearings... well he seems to have shown that can work.

Personally, I still adhere to McMorrow. Sharp and not so hardened.  And 
I still do not like the hard, wide, and round approach.  I think most of 
us are pretty well versed on the trade offs involved.  The question at 
hand is simply whether all things else being equal for any given 
configuration, will an increase in capo hardness tend to increase the 
chance of string breakage. 

Cheers
RicB


    A couple of years back Ron Overs wrote some on capo hardening:
    reasons and
    methods.  You might want to check the archives.

    David Love
    davidlovepianos at comcast.net
    www.davidlovepianos.com

    As for capo hardening.  I'm glad you bring it into question as it
    forces
    me to admit that here again... I dont really <<know>> and I agree that
    lack of  <<knowledge>> in the face of what is popularly claimed as such
    in this regard is indeed a  "bit of cognitive dissonance" as you put it.

    Cheers
    RicB
    --