1 string, 2 strings, 3 strings or more

[Ron Nossaman]

>To expect a No 13 wire to support 
>170-180 lbs. is, I think, optimistic, and I would set the length of note 88 
>at 4.8 - 5.0 mm. the tension to rise with the gauges to an average 165-70 
>lbs for the remainder of the steel scale.

I design mine at 54mm, but will happily take 53 or 54 in practice.  


>As to the lowering of tension at 
>the other end of the long bridge, you seem to be saying this is a sign of 
>obsolete scaling and that seems to mean that most modern 6' grands have 
>obsolete scaling, since the only ways to avoid this are a) to shift notes 
>onto the bass bridge, which would cause even worse problems --- 

I really don't understand this one at all. What is the rationale for the
reluctance to put a bass tenor break where it belongs by putting more
strings on the bass bridge? My scaling spreadsheet tells me the natural
break point for any traditionally scaled piano is nearly never where was
actually built into the piano. Why is having only 20, or 21, or 22 unisons
on the bass bridge such a good thing, while having 28, or 30, or 32 is so
bad when it produces such a much nicer scale? True, it's too late to make
these changes with a rebuild without adding the transition bridge, but
what's wrong with doing it right on the drawing board in the first place?



>>So far I have found no rationale for the use of tri-chord wrapped strings on
>>either bridge on any scale of any length.
>
>Presumably the rationale is not only to aid the transition but to produce a 
>certain quality in that section of the piano.  

I see no practical reason for wrapped trichords either. They're a voicing
and tuning hassle, and I've so far been able to get where I wanted to go
without having to resort to them. 


Ron N