Greetings, Larry asked: inre: Robinson >Strate-mate used for leveling strings. >Any thoughts, comments, advice on how to use this device? I use it to straighten the wire coming out of the agraffes and capos. I use it with care, since it is possible to not only break a string with too much force, but it is also easy to stretch the wire so much that you distort it somewhere, which really invites voicing problems, false beats, or "bad sounds". Its use does assist the wire in relieving the "restorative flex" that exists in front of the capos. I would advise that one first get accustomed to how much force is required to affect a change. This can be done by lifting two out of the three strings on a trichord with gradually increasing force, until you can feel that the two are slightly higher. This amount of force, plus a little for the third string is enough. you can aurally tell when you have changed it, but that may be pulling loose wire out of the backstring or top. With the sensitivity of our finger, we can detect a very slight amount of lift, and I usually content myself with that force and no more. The bass I do by hand, as I don't want to distort windings. I am not superstitious about much, but bass strings are one of them. It has its particular time and place. Its important, I think, to do the straightening after you have chipped and tuned up to pitch for a week or two. Using it right away will cause all of the bends formed to migrate on toward the tuning pins. I usually use it right before I mate hammers to strings, which is to say, late in the stringing process. Good luck, Ed Foote
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