agraffes

[Yardarm103669107@AOL.COM]

In a message dated 4/12/2001 3:44:05 AM Central Daylight Time, 
sec@overspianos.com.au writes:

<< Indeed, a few years ago when we were reshaping agraffe holes on a 
 regular basis, we decided to try new agraffes from a manufacturer of 
 high repute (since we weren't entirely satisfied with our hole 
 reshaping - still the occasional noisy one). To our horror, the new 
 ones were considerably worse than our reshaped agraffes.
 
 In recent years, even when using new replacement agraffes, we always 
 reshape the string holes. Cut a couple of new agraffes through the 
 string holes and inspect the hole profiles with a light and 
 magnifying glass. You will often find yourself 'reaching' for that 
 descriptive word, 'ordinary'.
  >>


This has been our experience, too. Although we don't replace agraffes often 
(only if there is real deformation or identifiable problems such as the SW 
agraffes from the late '20's which were not threaded properly), we spend a 
great deal of time shaping and polishing the contact area of string/agraffe. 
New ones are worse than the old ones and require more work. Curiously, 
several years ago when I queried several manufacturers as to the source of 
their agraffes, none was willing to give that information. Does anyone know 
why?
PR-J