[CAUT] Sperrhake Harpsichord wire

[Jim Busby]

Barbara,

This reminds me of the harpsichord builder friend of mine who has a neat box with all kinds of wire and sizes. When one breaks he pulls out the next size and/or other material (sometimes) and replaces it. His words to me were something like "Oh, the scale is just a guideline. We're continually tweaking it to make things work. A size up or down doesn't really make as much difference in a harpsichord as it does a piano." 

Now before all you geeky scaling freaks start in ("Now Jim, I don't agree, blah blah...") this is from an 80 year old man who worked with harpsichords all his life and I'll take his word that he experiments a bit, and that's that. (So shut up. <G>)

Jim

-----Original Message-----
From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Fred Sturm
Sent: Thursday, December 03, 2009 10:22 PM
To: caut at ptg.org
Subject: Re: [CAUT] Sperrhake Harpsichord wire

I agree with Dave. Zuckermann kit wire is likely low tension.  
Sperrhake is likely high tension (same stuff as piano wire, available  
from Schaff and from Hubbard, if not from Instrument Workshop). In  
general, if a string continues to break at a given diameter, you  
should try thinner wire. But in this case it is likely the wrong  
material.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico
fssturm at unm.edu

On Dec 3, 2009, at 9:25 PM, David Doremus wrote:

> Barbara Richmond wrote:
>> Hi list,
>>
>> I'm having some trouble installing replacement strings on a  
>> Sperrhake harpsichord.  The wires that came out were .009".
> The first thought I have is that maybe you have a low tensile iron  
> and you need a high tensile wire. Lutz at the Instrument Workshop or  
> Steve at Zuckerman should be easily able to supply some. I'd be  
> surprised if it is any smaller than .008".
>
>
>
>
>
> --Dave
>
> New Orleans
>
>