<!doctype html public "-//W3C//DTD W3 HTML//EN"> <html><head><style type="text/css"></style><title>Re: (Bose Question) - double loop eyes</title></head><body> <blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1">Hello List and Avery</font></blockquote> <blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1">There's two versions of the single string hitch loop. First there's the [very] ordinary once-round-the-pin then the usual nice tight wind- around-itself-twice-before-cutting-off type. Then there's the wonderful Broadwood Hitch-pin Loop. This masterful loop dictates going TWICE around the hitch-pin and then winding THREE times around itself before bending down towards the loop and cutting off. I really like the Broadwood version and gives me a great pleasure to do a whole piano that way. The end result is tidy and re-assuringly secure. I made a JIG to do this with ease. It consists of a 10" length of 3" x 1 1/2" with a screw, a bit thicker than the Hitch-Pin, vertically inserted and the head sawn off. The sharp end was then filed smooth and round-edged for safety. Then, in a line with each other I inserted another sawn off screw and a book holder (you know - one of those thingys on the music desk) And there's the jig. To use is ease in itself. The string is laid on the block, under the book holder, beside the pin, and wound twice around the dummy hitch-pin. Go a little further than 90deg to allow for "unspringing". Remove the string with its nice new hitch loop and grasp this same hitch loop with a good pair of "duck-billed" pliers. Now simply wind the string onto itself thrice, bend it back toward the loop and cut off, leaving about a 1/4" tail on the same plane as the loop.</font></blockquote> <blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1">Simple isn't it ?</font></blockquote> <blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1">Regards from a misty-yet-sunny lunch-time in a Sussex Downland Village</font></blockquote> <blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1">Michael G (UK)</font></blockquote> <div><br></div> <div>Indeed Michael, the double loop eye makes a very nice string termination. My previous reservations about them was their tendency to pull tight onto the hitch pin, making subsequent removal difficult. However, after doing some experiments before completing our piano no. 4, and after making a special jig with various size spigots to enable the eyes to be formed the correct size for the hitch pin, I derived a procedure for making double loop eyes which do not tighten up on the hitch pin<font color="#0000FF"> (the various spigot sizes were found to be necessary because I like the coil to be only just bigger than the hitch pin diameter, and the smaller wire gauges will finish up with larger diameter eyes unless a smaller spigot is used)</font>. The eyes are made by first bending a 90 degree kink in the wire before forming the eye. The back length wire segment must be clamped in the jig (before forming the eye around the spigot) to hold the kink up against the spigot. This prevents the kink from straightening out as the coil is wound, and it also allows for the eye to be wound such that the eye is centered relative to wire segment.</div> <div><br></div> <div>Furthermore, I discovered that the coil should be wound only until it is perpendicular to the back scale segment. While the coil unwraps slightly when it is taken off the jig, as it is pushed back over the back scale segment and down, before winding the finishing loops around the back length segment, the eye will close to the correct diameter. If the last coil is wrapped passed the point where it is perpendicular to the back scale segment, the last coil will end up slightly over-diameter, which (apart from spoiling it appearance) may allow the first-bent kink to slide away from the coil into the back scale segment.</div> <div><br></div> <div>We are now winding double loop eyes for our bass strings, and for the second string section which is loop-and-eye strung. I prefer the double loop eye to the English eye. The English eye stiffens the back scale segment, reducing the freedom of the sound board movement.</div> <div><br></div> <div>Ron O.</div> <x-sigsep><pre>-- </pre></x-sigsep> <div><font face="Times New Roman" size="+1" color="#0000FF"><b>OVERS PIANOS - SYDNEY</b></font></div> <div><font color="#000000"><i>   </i></font><font color="#0000FF"><i>Grand Piano Manufacturers</i></font><font color="#000000"><br> _______________________</font></div> <div><font size="-2" color="#000000"><br> </font><font color="#000000">Web http://overspianos.com.au</font></div> <div><font color="#000000">mailto:info@overspianos.com.au<br> _______________________</font></div> </body> </html>