Thanks for this info. I've been told that one shouldn't replace wire on German pianos with American wire. (I mean replacing single broken strings, not complete re-stringing.) What do others think? Do we need to carry around two complete sets of wire sizes? Keith Jones At 05:00 AM 6/12/2003 -0700, you wrote: >Robin, > >Any metric wired piano will have slightly different sized wire than an >American gauge wired piano. There are some sizes which match very >closely, and others which do not. Here is a comparison table: > >_____________________________________ > American Wire Metric wire >Gage .001" mm .001" mm > > 12 .029" .737mm .0285" .725mm > 12.5 .030" .762 .0295 .750 > 13 .031" .787 .0305 .775 > 13.5 .032" .813 .0315 .800 > 14 .033" .838 .0325 .825 > 14.5 .034" .864 .0335 .850 > 15 .035" .889 .0344 .875 > 15.5 .036" .914 .0354 .900 > 16 .037" .940 .0364 .925 > 16.5 .038" .965 .0374 .950 > 17 .039" .991 .0384 .975 > 17.5 .040" 1.016 .0394 1.000 > 18 .041" 1.041 .0404 1.025 > 18.5 .042" 1.063 .0413 1.050 > 19 .043" 1.092 .0423 1.075 > 19.5 .044" 1.118 .0433 1.100 > 20 .045" 1.143 .0443 1.125 > 20.5 .046" .0453 1.150 > 21 .047" 1.194 .0463 1.175 > 21.5 .048" .0472 1.200 > 22 .049" 1.245 .0482 1.225 > 23 .050" 1.295 .0512 1.300 > 23.5 .0531 1.350 > 24 .053" 1.346 .0551 1.400 > 24.5 .0571 1.450 > 25 .055" 1.397 .0591 1.500 > 26 .0630 1.600 > >As you can see, metric wire sizes step in .025mm increments while English >sizes step in .001" increments. This causes the metric wires to be >slightly different, and usually smaller, than English sizes. Once you >reach #16 they are very close to the same, then at #23 the metric wire >becomes larger than the English size. This is the reason for being >careful what you replace the wire with. Measuring the wire is good advice. > >Most Roslau wire sold in the US has been re-packaged to match the closest >English size. If you buy it in Germany it will be the metric sizes as >listed above. Same with Suzuki wire from Japan. > >Don't worry about wire sizes leading to string breakage - this is not the >case. If you go smaller, the string tension for a given pitch goes down >proportionally along with the string strength. This means that the >percentage of tensile strength will be almost exactly the same on a given >note if you replace the wire with a size larger or smaller than was >intended. You can screw up the tuning and tone pretty well, but the >string will not be any more or less likely to break if the wire is wrong. > >There have been lots of threads on string breakage here, so you can check >the archives. The bottom line is almost always heavy use combined with >worn hammers. Replace all the affected wire, shape the hammers and keep >them shaped, and the string breakage will be reduced to a minimum. > >Don Mannino RPT >Kawai America
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC