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<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2> Hi All.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2> This thread kind of died but I wanted to inquire of any
one on the list. Does any one have connections with the folks around the world
who produce music wire. Any networking going on?
Anything?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2> Regards</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2> Dale<BR><BR>>...What strikes me is that the plain wire on these
pianos is <BR>>superior to what is being used today. That it is,
for all <BR>>purposes, unbreakable, and produces such a
consistantly nice <BR>>musical tone, baffles me. How could steel
making not be better <BR>>today than it was during World War I
?<BR>> I service quite a few modern pianos in heavy
use. They break <BR>>strings and they have an enormously larger
number of false beats. <BR>>While bridge notching and pinning and Capo
bar condition are each a <BR>>large factor in this, the wire itself creates
the quality of the <BR>>note. I have had metallurgists tell me
that the contamination of <BR>>metals is a problem everywhere, as recycled
metals get mixed, to a <BR>>degree, and purity is expensive. And most of the
steel in this <BR>>country is made from recycling scrap. But music
wire???<BR>> Anybody privy to the standards for metal
used as music wire today?<BR><BR>This topic has come up several times on the
list in my time, and at <BR>least twice I've given the results (from Dolge's
book) of the tests <BR>on Poehlmann wire conducted at exhibitions from about
1867 to 1895 <BR>showing the terrific strength Poehlmann achieved. Not
only was the <BR>wire stronger but it was far better polished and far less prone
to <BR>rust than any modern wire I have come across. The colour was also
<BR>different. I don't know what effect the addition of recycled steel
<BR>to the mix makes -- I can't see that it would do any harm if the <BR>steel
added was of the correct quality to begin with, and I suppose <BR>that's the big
question. I think there are probably still good <BR>special steels for
specific engineering uses, and probably steels <BR>that were not available 100
years ago, but by and large my experience <BR>is that modern steel is
rubbish. I have tools from the 18th and 19th <BR>centuries that almost
refuse to rust, and if you force them to rust <BR>they can still be just gently
rubbed over with steel wool to come up <BR>birght again. As to piano wire,
who cares?! I have complained so <BR>many times to suppliers and direct to
Messrs Roslau and seen little <BR>improvement over the years. A few years
ago I talked to Webster and <BR>Horsfall, makers of the original patented wire,
about producing wire <BR>to the old Poehlmann specs, and I'm thinking of
approaching them <BR>again.<BR><BR>There are wires made with a better polish
than R. and some of them <BR>are usable, but they all go rusty, whereas
Poehlmann wire in a good <BR>environment rusts with great difficulty and very
superficially.<BR><BR>As a bass string maker I know of noone among my
competitors who is <BR>satisfied with the quality of the wire from the main
maker. We all <BR>want something better, but it would take a lot of time
and expense to <BR>achieve it, presuming that it is
possible.<BR><BR>JD<BR></DIV></FONT></DIV>
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