- Piano wire
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Piano string ends
Piano stringsPiano wire, or "music wire", is a specialized type of wire made for use in piano strings, as well as many other purposes. It is made from tempered high-carbon steel, also known as spring steel.
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Manufacture and use
General-purpose, high-carbon steel, drawn music wire (such as ASTM A228) is manufactured in both inch and metric music wire gauges (m.w.g.) in diameters as small as 0.006 inch up to 0.192 inch (0.15 to 4.8 mm). A small number of companies produce the tough, high tensile polished wire intended for limited music instrument markets, which is manufactured from steel of a specific composition by cold drawing.
Piano strings are among the most demanding of all applications of steel. Placed under high tension, they are subject to repeated blows, they are stretched and slackened during tuning and are still expected to last for decades. Similar challenges arise in plucked instruments, along with the additional demand of being bent when plucked.
Piano wire must also be extremely consistent in size: variations greater than 0.0003 inch (8 μm) will produce audible falseness in modern instruments.[citation needed]
Piano wire is sold by weight and packaged in tight coils. It springs back to a gentle curve but can be straightened using a series of opposed rollers. It requires careful handling for safety and appearance, since it can be marred by perspiration, and it requires special cutters, as the hardened steel will otherwise quickly dull the cutter.
Other applications
Piano wire is also used in the fabrication of springs, fishing lures, special effects in the movie industry and for cutting soap. It is also commonly used in hobby applications such as model railroading and both control line and radio-controlled aircraft. And a small section of piano wire strung between two handles is commonly used for automotive windshield replacement. In this application, the wire itself is used to cut through the sealant used to bond the old windshield, so that the old windshield can be lifted away.
History
The oldest record of wire being made for musical instruments is from Augsburg in 1351;[1] this probably predates the harpsichord and may have been wire for a psaltery. Earlier wire, used in harpsichords, was of brass or iron.
Starting around 1800, the piano began to be built ever more ambitiously, with sturdier (eventually, iron) framing and greater string tension. This led to innovations in making tougher piano wire. In 1834, the Webster & Horsfal firm of Birmingham brought out a form of piano wire made from cast steel; according to Dolge it was "so superior to the iron wire that the English firm soon had a monopoly."[1] But a better steel wire was soon created in 1840 by the Viennese firm of Martin Miller,[1] and a period of innovation and intense competition ensued, with rival brands of piano wire being tested against one another at international competitions, leading ultimately to the modern form of piano wire.[2]
The technological developments also benefited from demands of consistency from other special wire products like telegraph and barbed wire. Innovative piano makers kept pace with these advances by augmenting metal framing in their instruments and increasing tension of their strings.
See also
Notes
References
- Dolge, Alfred (1911) Pianos and Their Makers: A Comprehensive History of the Development of the Piano from the Monochord to the Concert Grand Player Piano. Covina Publishing Company.
External links
- Jean Louchet, Stringing gauge table and equivalents Broken link
- Edward Swenson, Chronologically arranged wire tests.
- Stephen Birkett & Paul Poletti, Reproduction of Authentic Historical Soft Iron Wire for Musical Instruments
- "Steel Music Wire". Report of the Tests of Metals and Other Materials for Industrial Purposes, made with the United States Testing Machine at Watertown Arsenal, Massachusetts, during the Fiscal Year ended June 30, 1894. Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C. 1895
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