beckets

[Ron Nossaman]

>I have never liked the practice.  IMHO it does nothing to enhance stability
>and cause several problems.  Mainly, if the bent over lenght is slightly
>high it makes it hard to get the hammer on tightly.  I have even had my
>hammer somehow get caught on the waste end and want to stay on the pin.
>Don't know just how but its a fact.  I toured the Wurlitzer factory long ago
>in Holly Springs Ms. and they had just started doing this.  Baldwin was not
>at the time.  I think Baldwin may have picked it up from them when they
>bought them out.  Wish everyone who does it would STOP.


I sure don't do this when stringing, but I do with individual replacements 
for a couple of reasons. I get a tighter bend at the becket the first time, 
and better control winding the coil on the pin. I've never had the becket 
creep out on a replacement since I started doing this (which is why I 
originally did the first one this way), and I leave a clear indication to 
anyone who looks that the string has been replaced. "I thought you replaced 
that string last time, why does it keep breaking?" No ma'am, it was the one 
next to it, see? And see all these others that have been replaced in this 
section? Maybe it's about time to...

Ron N