Bridgetop Extravaganza Revisited

[A440A@aol.com]

Jon writes: 
>As detailed in the Renner USA pamphlet on voicing by Rick Baldassin. This
> removal of the natural curve
>in the wire starts at the rear duplex, then the bridge pins, then the front
> termination at the capo bar.

    If I might add some to this; I think the removal of the natural curves 
should include the the two sides at the hitch pin.  Strings which were 
installed a year before, and had all the above curves settled in, will still 
measurably drop when the wire is given a squeeze on either side of the hitch 
pin!  So, does it not stand to reason that the rear-most bend should be 
eliminated also?  If you have previously straightened the wire curves on the 
distal side of the bridge pins, the slight movement of this rear-most 
straightening will then allow the bends to move toward the speaking length 
and center themselves on the  bridge pins. After which, a very light tap  
will further straighten out the wire behind and in front of the bridge.   
    In following this idea out,  the tighter coiling on bass string hitch pin 
loops also has a lot of slack in it.  On bass strings that have been 
installed long enough to be "stable", it is still common to cause a 5-10 cent 
drop simply by grabbing the tight part of the hitch pin loop with a pair of 
Vice-grips set to pretty snug, and gently rocking it from side to side. 
   On restringing jobs, I like to chip twice to about 8 cents sharp before 
doing ANY of this straightening.  If time allows, a few days of settling 
between the chippings is good.   Whereas a new piano seems to take a year or 
two to settle down,  that is the soundboard and case relaxing. When I replace 
a broken string in an old piano, it can be stable in a week, so I don't think 
the stability problems are in the wire, itself.  
    For stability, the tuning pin coil must be tightened, as it will have 
some slack in it,no matter what.  This can be minimized by tight coils, then 
tightening the becket, and then leveling them.  Even after this, it will be 
found that grabbing the coil with pliars and twisting it in the direction of 
its turn will cause a significant drop in pitch as it winds more tightly on 
the pin.   
    It is also wasted effort to attempt to level the strings on a piano that 
hasn't had the strings settled, since it takes very little movement under the 
agraffe to go back out of level.  
Ed Foote RPT 
www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/
www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html