<HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>Re: [CAUT] string dents</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY> On 12/15/06 4:09 PM, "Lance Lafargue" <lafargue@bellsouth.net> wrote: <BLOCKQUOTE>A "new" RPT tech working for me got a little excited about string voicing and in the process of "tapping" down strings on a new piano, went too far.  The strings were hit in the speaking length segment, in the direction of termination with the bridge pin V.  In other words, straightening the speaking length segment before it terminates at the bridge pin. Consequently, there is a visible "dent/kink" in the wire in the speaking length just before the bridge termination, creating more false beats than the ones that were to be eliminated.  Is there a cure short of restringing that section?  i.e., loosening string and straightening wire with hook as good as possible and retightening?  Thanks. Lance Lafargue, RPT LAFARGUE PIANOS, LTD LPIANOS.com lafargue@bellsouth.net 4244 Hwy 22 Mandeville, LA 70471 985.72P.IANO </BLOCKQUOTE> Hi Lance,     I doubt very much if the kinks are causing false beats. I’ve seen a lot of those – some I caused myself, being anxious to try what someone was over-selling in an article in the Journal many years back – and there are plenty of those strings with kinks that have no falseness at all. Bends within the speaking length don’t really seem to have an effect, in my experience. Strange, but seems to be true. Kind of like a tuners knot in the speaking length of a bass string. You’d think you could hear a difference, but if there is one it’s subtle.     Any kind of tapping, jerking action on a string at tension will create a permanent bend – well, I guess there must be an elastic limit you have to exceed, but it isn’t a very big one. Sometimes putting a kink in a string can be useful – to miss a damper wire in the tenor of a piano with badly spaced agraffes, for example (hmmm, what brand might I be thinking of <G>). Regards, Fred Sturm University of New Mexico </BODY> </HTML>