wire curve

[Ron Nossaman]

Hi Jim, "stuph" interspersed.

>  Ron; 
>  Now that Jon has explained his "natural curve" as being handmade rather than
>what happens as it is drawn and rolled into coils I have a few thoughts about
>the mythology involved here.
>  The comments that I have seen, I thought were referring to the 'natural'
>"natural" curve as the wire is fed out for restringing, i.e., such comments as
>"always form coil on the pin 'with' the curve".

* Me too. My post wasn't exactly in direct response to Jon's post. Jon just
triggered a cumulative rant with his "natural curve" wording. I didn't have
any problem with what he said.



..........it has always seemed
>to me that one could do this on only one pin as the other pin would have the
>wire coming to it in the exact opposite curve.  That is, unless one turned one
>coil CW and the other CCW, one of the coils would of necessity be formed
>opposing the "natural" curve.
>
> So if my postualtion is correct, which note suffers from being coiled in the
>manner it was coiled?   I submit, neither.

* I agree.


>  Even in Jons explanation of 'natural' curve the two ends of the wire will be
>coiled in opposing directions to a perhaps greater extent than ones which were
>installed less meticulously as both 'might' be coiled against the "natural"
>curve.
>In the very least the speaking length would be formed 'against the curve'.
> 
>  So if my postualtion is correct which note suffers from being coiled/formed
>in the manner it was coiled/formed?   I submit, neither.
>
>Well, Jim, you might ask..Why does changing the wire sometimes cure a "funny"
>noise problem? 
>  It could be from several reasons; forming a new groove on the capo as you
>pull the new wire to pitch, or even it was a bad piece of wire that was
>causing the "funny" noise.  We like to think of music wire as being high
>quality and for the most part it is but.....there can always be a "bad" spot
>in the wire maybe where the drawing was stopped to fix the machine or a
>portion was too hot/cold as it was drawn, etc.  Each of these, and others,
>could cause a "funny" sounding string...couldn't it?

* I would certainly think so, and it's much more likely to be a production
flaw, in my opinion and experience, than a twist in the wire. The automatic
assumption that the noise from the old string was a result of twists or
kinks, or for that matter, grooves in the capo, is not necessarily a
warranted assumption. 

>
>  This, in my opinion, myth belongs with some of the others such as "a tuning
>pin without three coils will not hold tune" or "if you can slip a business
>card in between the plate web and the pinblock" the piano ought to be burned,
>or there is a definite and specific set of specifications for regulating S&S
>pianos, or even all coils should end 1/8 inch above the plate.
>
>  Of course this is all just opinion as I know of no study done on the
>subject.
>My view.
> Jim Bryant (FL)
>


Yep, that's pretty much the point. I don't think it's the curve, or the
twist, or, as Jim C said, the kink that is the problem. I am challenging
anyone to come up with any reasonable proof or demonstration to the effect
that any of these things predictably affect the clarity of the tuning of the
installed string. Not that it will change anyone's belief to the contrary. 

A myth is as good as a mile.

 Ron