Twisting And Schraffing

[PIANOBIZ@aol.com]

Greetings to all  I was told there was bass string dialogue on the internet
so I thought I'd hop on. What better place than twisting and schraffing?

We bought a string winder two years ago and have been making all of our
strings for that period of time. We have offered our services to the trade,
rescaling and manufacture under one roof.

My goal as a string winder is to have flexible union. The core and the wrap
must perform as one unit and still remain flexible for optimum sound.  By
twisting the bass string, you're compensating for any looseness between the
core and the wrap.  Twisting utilizes the swedges, the flattened segment of
the core wire under each copper termination, and turns the swedge into a
wrench, transferring the twist toward the center of the string. This tightens
the copper to the core and even the copper coils to themselves.  While I
don't think it is necessary to twist a perfectly made string, it is
insurance.  The more poorly made the string, the more necessary the twisting
will be. Sometimes as we all know, twisting isn't enough, the string must be
remade.

I concur with Ed Foote's comment about durability and believe in maximum
scuffing of the core underneath the copper.  This grounds the core and copper
together in a multi-dimensional union.  In any type of effort to make two
items adhere to one another whether gluing or painting, the process of
scuffing, schraffing if you will, is utilized.

David Sanderson
                                                           Sanderson
Accu-Strings  Littleton, MA