German Loop / French Loop / English Loop ?

[John Delacour]

At 1:36 am +1100 24/12/06, Ron Overs wrote:

>When I first considered using the type of loop you posted below for 
>our new pianos, I had reservations about using them because of their 
>tendency to tighten on the hitch pin. The eye shown below is the 
>very version about which I held this reservation. This style of loop 
>will tend to tighten like a noose on the hitch pin.

Certainly it will, and if it doesn't you have to help it, first by 
tapping in the coils and then by tapping them sideways to centre the 
wire so that the line of the back-length passes through the centre of 
the hitchpin.  All German eyes, whether double or single will tighten 
round the pin and they are often a hell of a job to get off.  When I 
make bass strings with German eyes I also allow for this closing up 
of the eye, about 5mm for the single and 10 for the double.

>As you can see this loop [pictured] is centered on the axis of the 
>back length wire. This is achieved by first bending the wire with a 
>very tight bend (to the right, as you look at the image below), 
>before forming the loop/s. In addition to centering the coil, eyes 
>formed in this way will not tighten down onto the hitch pin 
>(provided that the loop is a relatively close fit to the diameter of 
>the hitch pin).

Well, if it works and serves the intended purpose, well and good.  I 
have never seen the point of the double turn round the pin, and if, 
as you say there is no slip with your eye, then what is the point of 
leaving the tag on?  A single German eye with a single whole coil to 
finish and with a tag will no slip.  I think it was Irmler who used 
such an eye.

>Notice also that while the back scale wire segment will be raised 
>slightly, reducing the downbearing relative to an English twisted 
>eye, a double looped eye such as the one shown above won't reduce 
>the downbearing any more than will the single looped eye.

The same can be said of the double German eye made in the usual way.

>I recall someone mentioning this as a problem with using the looped 
>eye in pianos which were set up for English eyes. When building a 
>piano from scratch, or when the bridges are being recapped or 
>replaced this isn't a problem. But certainly, it should be given 
>consideration when setting the downbearing on instruments where the 
>original bridge is being retained without lowering the plate.

I makes no difference if the piano has the normal hitchplate bearing 
(as opposed to the vertical pins illustrated by RN), but certain 
pianos, notably many Ibach grands, with the bearing immediately in 
front of the hitchpin, do require a German eye both for downbearing 
and for looks.

JD


-- 
______________________________________________________________________
Delacour Pianos  *  34 Station Road  *  Poole  *  Dorset  *  BH14 8UD
Phone:  01202 731031  *  Mobile: 07801 310 689  *  Fax: 0870 705 3241 
______________________________________________________________________