old upright Knabe.. -Reply

[Les Smith]

Hi, Vince.

Interesting post. Off the top of my head, one piano that incorporated
this very system was J&C Fisher, whom we discussed a couple of months
ago. Around the turn of the century they did indeed use copper for the
lowest, double-wound single strings and iron for all the rest of the
single-wound strings. To modern eyes, the combination of the two dif-
ferent types of windings appears somewhat strange. Perhaps appearance--
especially in a grand piano--was one argument in favor of using copper
through-out?

On Mon, 7 Apr 1997, Vince Mrykalo wrote:

> In response to iron vs copper wrap, I offer this from
> "Proceedings of the Conference of Piano
> Technicians": (Remarks were made by
> string-maker E. Johnson from Schaaf Piano String
> Co. from Chicago in 1916):
> "If a dull tone is desired we find the copper wires
> act to better advantage than the iron."
> also:
> "We do not advocate an entire set of iron strings -
> the last ten strings should be copper.  This is due to
> the fact that the diameter of the core is so much
> less than the diameter of the covering wire.  On fine
> strings we have found where the same weight of
> hammers is used and on the same scale, the iron
> strings give better results.  I do not know just what
> the reason is."
> and:
> "The value of copper bass strings is only
> salesman's talk.  He is the one who went outside
> and popularized it.  Later, when you offered your
> piano with iron strings, he told you everybody was
> using copper strings.  A lower copper string is
> superior to iron.  I recommend copper on the lower
> 10 strings, but on the finer strings better results may
> be had with the iron."
>
> Vince Mrykalo
> BYU
>
> >>> Dave Sanderson <pianobiz@juno.com>
> 04/04/97 05:46am >>>
> Phil
> Steel has been used throughout history only when
> copper was not available
> (times of war) or just too expensive(trying to save a
> buck).  Its'
> properties of sound production have no merit
> above copper, in fact its'
> hardness and its' rusting make it an inferior choice
> to copper.
> >From all I can tell it is a myth that manufacturers
> preferred steel or
> used it to create a particular sound. High cost
> and/or shortages appear
> to have been the driving factors. This is proven by
> the fact that as soon
> as copper did become available again ALL
> manufacturers switched back to
> copper immediately.
>
> David Sanderson
> Littleton, MA
> Pianobiz@juno.com
> On Fri, 04 Apr 1997 05:29:25 -0500 (EST) Phil
> Bondi <tito@peganet.com>
> writes:
> >...came into a dealers store a while ago..it's a
> project for me when
> >it's
> >slow..question..it has steel-wound strings..never
> seen this
> >before..someone
> >wanna give me a history lesson..??..!!..??
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>