Another wire string question
AlCarruth@aol.com
Fri, 5 Jan 1996 20:42:56 -0500
Has anyone tried twisted (as opposed to overspun) strings on a harp? It
has been a while since I messed around in the early instrument field, but I
seem to remember that rope-like, twisted strings came into use on lutes and
citterns a hundred years or so before the advent of overspinning. It should
be fairly easy to make such a string and keep it reasonably uniform. The
tensile strength would go down proportionally as the twist angle went up, and
consequently the % of tension would go up. I would hazard that the damping
would also go up, with some loss of upper partials and sustain, but the upper
partials would at least be truer. Sustain is seldom a problem on wire-strungs
anyway! Just curious.