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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
he always carry the following sizes: 13, 14, 15,
16, 18, 20, 21. These are the most important
sizes. A good wire holder that will carry the
various lengths, each together, and without the
possibility of tangling, will be found to be a great
boon. We have long carried a very excellent
wire holder of this kind made by the Tuners'
Supply Co., of Boston. This device has a capac-
ity of 400 feet, of six different sizes.
THE REVIEW'S TECHNICAL DEPARTMENT.
Conducted and Edited by Win. B. White.
Why do strings break, and can their breaking
be prevented? This is a question that must often
trouble the tuner and repairer. Inasmuch as the
replacing of broken strings is at best a very irri-
tating and tedious task, to say nothing of the
time and expense involved, it seems that a study
of the whole matter of strings, their strength,
their preservation, and their durability, cannot
but be of interest to all practical men. All tun-
ers have continually suffered the great incon 1
venience entailed by the replacing of broken
strings. When the fracture occurs in the middle
part of the scale, the annoyance is doubled, for
the bass strings intervene, and hinder the tuner
in his efforts to loop the new and stiff wire over
the pins at the bottom of the plate, and through
the pins on the belly-bridge. Bass strings are
easier to put on, but breakage here involves
even greater trouble. New strings have to be
made, unless it be possible to splice them with
new wire, a solution which is not always practi-
cable.
It has been stated by a famous scale draughts-
man that the ideal piano must be so arranged
as to require no more than 160 pounds of strain
to each wire. Now, it is a well-known fact that
even the thinnest wire, No. 13, breaks at a strain
above this. Why, then, do we so often find that
the stouter and stronger wires break under the
tuner's hand?
There are several reasons for these accidents.
The total strain upon the plate and framing of an
instrument of the largest size, when tuned at
concert pitch, is from 40,000 to 60,000 pounds.
The maintenance of the strings at this enormous
total tension involves excessive torsional strains
on the metal and wooden framing. The constant
tendency of the whole structure, therefore, is
towards a buckling under the pressure placed
upon it. So that when an instrument is neg-
lected by its owner, and allowed to go for a long
time without attention from the tuner, the fram-
ing, ever ready to give under the strain, refuses
to hold up the strings, and the pitch falls. This
falling begins, though imperceptibly, immediate-
ly after a string has been placed at proper ten-
sion. When allowed to remain untuned for
months, and even years, at a time, the instru-
ment is unable to withstand the shock which
ensues when it is suddenly raised to standard
pitch again. Not only this, but the strings,
which have been gradually losing their elasticity,
become brittle, and when forcibly stretched are
quite liable to collapse. The pulling force exer-
cised at the tuning pin and through the bearing
device generates the greatest strain at the point
immediately under the bearing bridge. Conse-
quently, we find that strings usually break at the
bearing bridge, when the fracture occurs during
the process of tuning.
It is sometimes found that strings have col-
lapsed under the strain of violent playing. In
these cases the fracture is usually due to the
excessive force with which the mass of metal is
thrown into vibration; the weak or weakened
string being unable to withstand the violent os-
cillations which are set up within it. The vibra-
tional motion, being transmitted along the major
axis of the cylindrical wire, comes to a head
towards the middle of its length. Hence the
break, is likely to occur at the belly-bridge,
where the contact of the string with the bridge-
pin has generated rust, and consequent weaken-
ing of the material.
Such are the underlying physical causes for
string breaking. As for the better preservation
of the wire, and the prevention of fracture, we
can only throw out hints. Absolute rules can-
not be laid down. The following suggestions,
however, will be found to have considerable
11
efficiency in giving greater life to pianoforte
wires:
(1) Whenever it is necessary to tune an old
instrument that has been neglected, all bearing
points should be carefully lubricated with a
little fine oil. Thus it will be possible to get rid
of the clogging that is always developed by rust,
and the consequent freer movement of the strings
through the bearing and belly-bridges will con-
siderably reduce the chance of fracture.
(2) If it seems that the strings will not be
strong enough to withstand the shock of sudden
raising to a required pitch, let the instrument be
tuned several times at intervals of a few days,
and let an effort be made to raise the pitch grad-
ually each time. After the whole set of strings
have been brought to a rough approximation to
the required pitch, then let the pianoforte be
tuned once or twice properly and carefully. By
these means, together with careful attention to
the lubrication of bearing points, it will be
found possible often to coax up an old instrument
to standard pitch and keep it there.
In reference to the replacing of strings, where
these have been broken by the ruthlessness of
players or the ill-luck of the tuner, a few remarks
may be of value. In the first place, the tuning
pins should never be removed from the wrest-
plank. We personally have never known a case
where this procedure was necessary, but it some-
times may be easier to get at the work by doing
this. However, under no circumstances should
the repairer remove the pins. The wrest-plank
holes are likely to be more or less worn, and
even the operation of screwing out the pins a
short distance, to facilitate the work of fitting
the new wire, is liable further to loosen the hold
of the pin and prevent the wire from being pulled
up to pitch. In all cases the pin must be well
hammered down when the string is coiled on it.
Even if it be necessary to drive it in, so as to
make the head lower than the rest of the line of
pins, the repairer must neglect appearances for
the sake of security. On the other hand, it is
equally important to be sure that the pin is not
hammered too far down, for this will disturb the
bearing of the string, and perhaps make so acute
an angle between the pin and bridge as to cause
another and immediate fracture when the string
is tightened. From all this it will be seen that
to put on a new string is not quite so simple as
it looks.
Bass strings present a far different problem.
They must be made to order, in the first place,
and this is enough to make the question of their
replacement most important. Nothing is more
annoying than to be confronted with a broken
bass string, and lack of ready means for having
a duplicate manufactured. In such cases as these
it sometimes becomes necessary to resort to
rather unworthy devices. We, for example, have
been reduced, ere this, to the painful necessity
of shifting along a whole set of single bass
strings, until the beginning of the double sets
made possible the despoiling of one of these to
supply the missing single member. This was per-
haps a somewhat unmechanical way of doing
things; but the combination of a country vil-
lage, an approaching ball, no way of splicing the
broken string, and a distance of five hundred
miles from the nearest manufacturing center,
together produce a situation that requires des-
perate remedies. Of course, no such devices are
recommended here. Splicing should be done
when it is possible and practicable. But if we
cannot splice, nor wait to take an impression
and get new strings made, what are we to do?
Clearly, the course described is the only one that
can be pursued under such circumstances.
However, there are many devices that will
occur to the inventive tuner to enable him to get
around the numerous varying conditions that
confront him when engaged in string repairing.
The above hints may be considered as sufficient
guides, and where they fail, the ingenuity of the
tuner himself must supply the necessary solu-
tion.
Undoubtedly, the causes of string deficiency are
often to be traced back to the factory. It will
be noted that the great inherent stiffness of the
music wire and the manner in which it is tem-
pered, make it necessary that the utmost care be
exercised by the stringer to see that the wire is
not bent out of its natural curves, nor that it
ever be straightened after being once bent to fit
a hitch pin. Carelessness in these details is not
likely to show until long after the instrument
has left the factory; but when the combined
effects of age and hard. usage have sapped the
original strength, all these little defects begin to
loom up, larger and more ominous than the fac-
tory worker is ever likely to imagine. The out-
side tuner is not usually able to impress his
views
upon the manufacturer or his superinten-
In reference to the wire itself, it is very im-
portant to secure the same number and thick- dent, but the columns of this department are
ness when replacing with a new length. A wire always open to whatever ideas or suggestions of
gauge should always be carried, as well as a the sort that may at any time be projected from
sufficient supply of the various sizes used in the brains of our traveling readers. The itinerant
piano making. In practice it will be found that tuner is he who most often has to deal with the
the tuner can consider himself well equipped if derelicts of the piano world; his experience
TUNERS' SUPPLY COMPANY
MANUFACTURERS OF
TUNERS' TOOLS, OUTFITS AND SUPPLIES
OF EVERY
DESCRIPTION.
Send for Illustrated Catalogue,
Franklin Square, Boston, Mass.