[pianotech] New string broke twice

[Ron Nossaman]

On 7/12/2011 3:19 PM, Noah Frere wrote:

> FYI the strings that broke - and yes I mic'd them before installing -
> were .040 core; .118 winding; hitch to winding 5 1/8"; winding length 30
> 3/4".   The new string will be the same lengths but .039 core and .116
> winding.

Out of curiosity, I did what you should have done. Not having a speaking 
length, I very approximately constructed one. Going with a winding 
length of 30 3/4", and bare ends of 1/2" each, I got 31 3/4", or about 
806mm. Longer bare ends would make a longer speaking length, which would 
have been even worse than what I got. So the G#-2, with 0.040" core and 
0.118" overall wrap comes to pitch at around 304 lbs, which is very near 
JD's result by similar method. Sanderson's break% formula puts it at 
78%, which is guaranteed to break. JD's right. Quit guessing at this 
stuff and start doing the calculations that will tell you something useful.

Ron N