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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hi Julia:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Wire gauges can be confusing =
as
hell. Most wire in industry is designated with AWG (American Wire =
Gauge,
also known as Brown & Sharpe Gauge). This is used for =
electrical wire
as well as steel wire. Different sources will tell you that the =
American
steel industry is switching, or has switched, to the "U.S. Steel Wire =
Gauge"
system and electrical wire is switching to decimal diameter, but when =
you order
wire, all you seem to ever see is AWG. There are also obsolete =
gauge
systems like Birmingham Gauge and Stub's Gauge, but you rarely encounter =
them. In the UK, they have other systems.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Music wire has its own gauge system =
(don't ask me
why) and it always has. McMaster-Carr is just dumbing it down for =
your
average boob by calling it out in AWG. It is a common =
engineering
material and is not used only for piano strings. It is basically =
an
extremely high tensile strength, high carbon steel wire. It is =
used
extensively in the manufacture of springs. In fact, most ordinary =
springs
are available only in music wire or stainless steel. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The only thing that I can guess =
that might be
different between music wire from Schaff and music wire from =
McMaster-Carr is
the finish. Wire is produced by drawing (pulling it through a =
hole) and
different finishes can be accomplished by how this is done and by =
treatment
after drawing. There are "bright" finishes, "matte" finishes, =
"soap drawn"
finishes, etc. I'm not sure if these finishes would have =
any effect
on the sound of the string...it doesn't seem like they would. And =
for all
I know they have the same finish anyway. The biggest problem I can =
see
with using the industrial wire is that it isn't usually available =
in
half-gauges. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Don A. Gilmore<BR>Mechanical =
Engineer<BR>Kansas
City</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
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style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; =
BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: =
black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=Alpha88x@aol.com =
href="mailto:Alpha88x@aol.com">Alpha88x@aol.com</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A =
title=pianotech@ptg.org
href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, January 30, 2004 =
8:41
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> AWG vs. Music Wire =
Size</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 =
face=Arial size=2
FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
=
PTSIZE="10">greetings,<BR><BR>  =
;
When I look in a McMaster Carr catalog I see that .031 diameter wire =
(ASTM
A228 spring carbon steel wire which the catalog refers to as music =
wire) is
20AWG. However, in the Schaff catalog .031 diameter is size 13. Why =
are music
wire sizes different from
=
AWG?<BR><BR> &=
nbsp;
Is it just that Piano supply houses want to confuse us tuners into =
purchasing
their wire at nearly three times the price or what? Has anyone ever =
ordered
wire from another (cheaper) source than the piano supply
houses?<BR><BR><BR>rookie,<BR>Julia Gottchall,<BR>Reading, PA</FONT>
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