Hi Kurt   Thanks for the informative article. I wrote last week about false beats being introduced by over stretching in the first chipping's of newer Steinways,(or any piano) Now that this man has stated that permanent elongation can happen just prior to the string actually breaking has me asking at what point of breaking strain does this permanent elongation occur. For example can a string permanently elongate in any section if pulled up 100 cents past it's intended tension. Or perhaps this only happens in the trebles where the false beats I objected to occur.   Of course over pulling a nice short string puts an enormous amount of unscheduled strain on the bridge pins...........heeeeere we go!   Hmm?   Anybody   Dale <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 3px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"></BLOCKQUOTE> <div id=AOLMsgPart_2_505e37eb-9c26-48c2-bada-4ae3aa0b6c38> <BLOCKQUOTE class=gmail_quote style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: rgb(204,204,204) 1px solid">It's not me that says that. Everything even approaching a credible source that I've been able to find says that is the case. I found hundreds of references to high temperature creep, but nothing saying there is measurable creep at room temperatures and the stress levels in piano strings. ... Replace a string in an already stable piano, and you can get it stable in a week.</BLOCKQUOTE> <div> Even so, that pitch drop  has to come from SOMEWHERE. I have heard the same statement that wire "creeping" stretch is physically impossible, and it seems unlikely that the physicists are massive wrong on this.. here is one example of a frustrated physicist ranting about the belief of piano tuners: <A href="http://www.mmdigest.com/Archives/Digests/200204/2002.04.02.08.html" target=_blank>http://www.mmdigest.com/Archives/Digests/200204/2002.04.02.08.html</A> </div> Kurt Baxter </div> <div id='u8CA7041C217013E-7E0-4C37' class='aol_ad_footer'><HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">Get the <A title="http://www.mapquest.com/toolbar?NCID=mpqmap00030000000003" href="http://www.mapquest.com/toolbar?NCID=mpqmap00030000000003" target="_blank">MapQuest Toolbar</A>, Maps, Traffic, Directions & More! </div>