Joel Rappaport wrote: >Want to complicate this further? We have experience making bass strings >in Germany and Austria and make the bass strings here at home for our >own rebuilding projects. We have always called roughing up the core >wire before spinning the copper onto it, "kratzen" which is German for >scratching. I never heard of schraffing until it was offered as an >option here in the USA. Ron Torrella's research into the etymology is >very enlightening, but I never heard those German terms in Europe. > >As David Sanderson pointed out, roughing up the core is to help the >copper grab onto the core during spinning. There are other factors >which would cause dead strings and those must be taken into >consideration. > >The schraffing or "kratzen" of the core, in my opinion, plays absolutely >no role in whether you twist the bass string (ALWAYS in the direction of >the winding, BTW). Our procedure is one full twist for the singles, two >full twists for the doubles and triples (to clarify: this does not >refer to the number of copper layers, but the number of strings in the >unison). > >Hope this helps. > >Joel Rappaport >Round Rock, Texas > Antares writes: Dear Joel, What you just wrote is the definite answer to this issue of "scratching" strings. To be more clear is unimaginable! In my opinion you won a prize, thank you!
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