<!doctype html public "-//W3C//DTD W3 HTML//EN"> <html><head><style type="text/css"></style><title>Re: string breakage</title></head><body> <div>Wim asked:</div> <blockquote type="cite" cite><font size="-1" color="#000000">I have a string that keeps breaking when pulled up to pitch. Should I use a thicker string or a thinner string?</font></blockquote> <div><br></div> <div><font size="-1" color="#000000">Thinner is stronger than thicker, but the improvement is minimal for high carbon steel music wire. There's a discussion about this between me and Newton somewhere in the depths of the pianotech archives.</font></div> <div><br></div> <blockquote type="cite" cite><font size="-1" color="#000000">Should I try a thicker string that will withhold the tension, or a thinner string for a higher pitch?</font></blockquote> <div><font size="-1" color="#000000"><br></font></div> <div><font size="-1" color="#000000">Both strings will have the same stress for the same scale position, but the thinner string is stronger so more able to withstand that same stress level.</font></div> <div><font size="-1" color="#000000"><br></font></div> <div><font size="-1" color="#000000">I'd check for other factors that are causing the breakage.</font></div> <div><font size="-1" color="#000000"><br></font></div> <div><font size="-1" color="#000000">By the way, what is the pitch, speaking length, and wire gage of the offending string?</font></div> <div><font size="-1" color="#000000"><br></font></div> <div><font size="-1" color="#000000">Stephen</font></div> <x-sigsep><pre>-- </pre></x-sigsep> <div>Dr Stephen Birkett<br> Associate Professor<br> Department of Systems Design Engineering<br> University of Waterloo<br> Waterloo, Ontario<br> Canada N2L 3G1<br> <br> E3 Room 3158<br> tel: 519-888-4567 Ext. 3792<br> fax: 519-746-4791<br> PianoTech Lab Room E3-3160 Ext. 7115<br> mailto: sbirkett[at]real.uwaterloo.ca<br> http://real.uwaterloo.ca/~sbirkett</div> </body> </html>