Length of Hitch Pin Loop Windings vs. Location 0n Plate

[TSORICH@aol.com]

I'm wondering if any of you have come across a situation (difficult to
describe clearly) where the hitch pin area of a plate is at the back of an
elevated 'plateau', and a raised (rounded) "bead" runs across the width of
the front of this plateau (this bead is not too substantial but is a
significant and integrated part of the cast iron plate).  In the piano I'm
dealing with, this 'plateau' is curved just like the bass bridge and even
looks like a cast iron version of the bass bridge itself. The bottom line of
what I'm trying to determine is where the final turns of the hitch pin loop
winding are, ideally, supposed to be -- relative to this bead.

I'm working on a 7'4" Ivers & Pond grand (1921/'22 vintage; serial #  70185)
that has relatively new bass strings but a relatively weak tonal output in
the bass region.  The rear bearing for the bass bridge is generally quite low
throughout but also varies significantly from one string to the next.
  Inasmuch as the final few twists of the hitch pin loop windings consist of
the core wire being wrapped around itself about 90 degrees to the direction
of the straight portion of the core wire, this makes for a sort of 'zone of
maximum diameter' in the length of string where there is no copper winding,
i.e. a place where there is a small bulky mass.

In the above piano, this mass sometimes sits directly on top of the bead, in
which case the core wire turns under the straight part of the core wire and
lifts this straight portion away from the top of the bead -- and lifts it by
at least the diameter of the core wire (thus significantly reducing the rear
bearing/slope).  In other cases, e.g. adjoining strings, this mass sits part
way down the back side of the bead (i.e. towards the tail of the piano) and
sometimes allows the straight portion of the core wire to just pass over and
even barely touch the bead.

Although the distance from the front of the plateau to the back is only 1
-3/8", the distance from the end of the loops, on the existing strings, to
the end of the final twists is fairly long and variable -- ranging from
1-1/8" up to 1-7/16" (but mostly 1-5/16" to 1-7/16").  It would seem that if
replacement strings were made with this distance made uniformly perhaps 1" to
1-1/4" throughout, the straight portion of the core wire would just barely
pass over/touch the top of the bead;   at least, the bead would not be
interfering with the natural slope of the string from bridge to hitch pin.
   Each 'bulky mass' would be nestled down low at the backside of the bead
and/or on the flat part of the plate.

While this seems the most reasonable approach to me, I can't tell what the
designer had in mind and wonder what others have observed with similar plate
designs or pianos?   I know that with some curved bridges, the final loop
twists of the lowest bass strings are essentially suspended in air between
the bass bridge and the spot on the plate where the string crosses enroute to
the hitch pin;  then these 'bulky masses' can get progressively closer to the
plate until the last several (uppermost) bass strings have these twists
sitting right on the plate.   Therefore, it appears that final twists could
sit in front of such a bead, on top of it, or behind it.

Since, relative to the existing strings on this piano, the final twists of
all the strings sit either on top of the bead or on the backside of the bead,
I tend to doubt if they should be on the front side of the bead.  And, if
they were intended to sit on top of the bead, it would seem that the designer
would have had to take the increasing diameters of the core wires up the
scale into consideration in designing the height of the bead.  If on the
backside, the designed height of the bead would seem to be related directly
to the height of the straight portion of the core wire passing over it.

Can anyone shed some light on this or would you have ready access to a
similar piano?       Thanks very much, Ted