>Commonly called a string pattern. Most people use butcher or wrapping >paper. Mylar is best for it's demential {:)} stability. > >I just love this language! > > Newton Oh now Newton. You know you'd have to store a paper pattern on the Titanic for at least three months for the "humidity" induced dimensional changes to make a meaningful difference. You just like playing with Mylar for the wonderful wonking noises it makes when you shake it. Come on, admit it. Incidentally, James Arledge's recommendation for string patterns strikes me as a real nice workable process. Take a rubbing of the agraffes, and a separate one of the hitches and bridge pins. Measure speaking lengths of the ends of the section(s), along with your core and wrap data, and send them to your string winder. It doesn't make half a hoot's difference what you use for the pattern, or what the dimensional stability of the stuff is, because you supply the string winder with the speaking length measurements so he can orient the top and bottom, or fore and aft, patterns on the bench to your end of section measurements, and exactly reproduce the scale lengths that appear in the piano. Give him bare end measurements coinciding with your new improved scale, and there's no excuse for wrap ends not being where you want them... is there? Well, is there??? The bulk of the patterns is considerably smaller than it would be if you sent patterns covering the entire string lengths, the accuracy should be increased, and the chances of transposing unison measurements or accommodating notching disconfrugalties is eliminated altogether. In other words, you're off the hook for the liability of accuracy of the length data and it's on the string winder - which he would probably prefer anyway. Ron N
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