I am highly skeptical about the idea of a twist in the wire being the "cause" of a false beat. I have heard this so many times that I decided to perform an "experiment" while restringing. My normal procedure induces at least a quarter turn twist in virtually every wire. I pull it off the reel and just string like in the factory.
I decided I would string two notes (adjacent of course) paying strict attention to making sure they laid precisely the same as to curl, pre-bent the hitch to ensure this, pre-cut the length, wound the coils very carefully so they were identical and as parallel to the the plate as possible...etc etc. I did everything to ensure there was no twist and all was "the same".
What do you think was the result on those two notes compared to ALL the notes around them? Yes, they actually sounded WORSE than all the notes around them. More false beats in those two notes than in virtually all the other notes in an otherwise very clean treble.
Was it a fluke? I don't think so. I have also in the past taken a wire off the pin, twisted it 360° and put it back on...no change whatsoever. Even putting a splice in the speaking length (now THAT'S a twist) produces no false beat!
The one experiment I have done that actually did improve things was to tune a piano to a much higher pitch level. 444hz cleaned up MANY weird and false sounds on a SS M. The piano sounded surprisingly cleaner and better. I thought that was rather interesting. When I brought it back down all the sounds that were there before came back as before. That piano has since been restrung and does not exhibit the falseness it used to have. (Incidentally, the old wire that came off that piano was exceedingly STRAIGHT showing virtually no coil effect...also interesting).
So anyway, I do not believe that a slight twist in a wire will CAUSE a false beat. The source is elsewhere. Unless of course some one can PROVE otherwise. I will accept that a wire that has been pulled past it's elastic limit and deformed COULD produce a false beat (and one cannot tell by looking), however I have no proof to back that up. Nor am I terribly interested in experimenting to prove or disprove it.
My .02
Pwg
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Peter Grey
Stratham NH
603-686-2395
pianodoctor57@gmail.com------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 09-08-2021 17:13
From: Victor Belanger
Subject: False beats with F2 area Steinway "B"
Thank you Jim.
Much appreciated.
Victor Belanger
Belmont, MA
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Victor Belanger
Belmont, MA
Original Message:
Sent: 09-08-2021 08:57
From: Jim Ialeggio
Subject: False beats with F2 area Steinway "B"
Contact Paullelo by email to purchase wire.
contact@stephenpaulello.com This usually goes to Claire, who will email you a "proforma invoice".
Download a simple excel sheet from the website https://www.stephenpaulello.com/en/typogramme to determine what type wire, and gauge would work on you particular note(s). Delivery from france is amazingly fast usually. Payment by paypal.
I have noticed when re-stringing, that before the wire is brought up to tension there are always "apparently" many false beats everywhere. Once the wire is brought to tension, most of the beating ceases, with the exception of a few problem children. So that speaks to the under-tensioned possibility. Although, to tell the truth, I often like the sound of the wire, in general, when it is about a semitone flat, and thus slightly undertensiohed when chipping...but it is noisy as well in the under-tensioned state.
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Jim Ialeggio
grandpianosolutions.com
Shirley, MA
978 425-9026
Original Message:
Sent: 09-07-2021 12:30
From: William Truitt
Subject: False beats with F2 area Steinway "B"
What is more important is the breaking percentages drop, calculated as the PBL% (practical breaking load percentage) in the Paulello universe. Substituting Paulello Type 1 wire of the same gauge (slight differences between the American Mapes and the metric Paulello wire), will raise the PBL% from too low 29 PBL% to a very respectable goldilocks zone value of 47%. It is an audible improvement in tone, and much better matches the E2 wound string below it. I use the Type 1 wire for the bottom 4 notes in the tenor before switching to the Type O up to about 40 or even 52. You get a better blended and better sounding low tenor as a result.
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William Truitt
Bridgewater NH
603-744-2277
Original Message:
Sent: 09-07-2021 11:42
From: David Love
Subject: False beats with F2 area Steinway "B"
It is a problem area on a Steinway B because the tensions drop so precipitously there. F2 is often around 120lbs dropping from about 165 lbs higher up. That's where the Paulello wire might help as it raises the break point percentage. The low tension makes it much more subject to weird phasing, not to mention a tonal bump between the low tension low tenor and a relatively high tension E2. Before I did anything, though, I'd make sure you have the strings leveled and the hammers precisely mated to the strings there. It's possible it's some termination problem or even a twist in the string but twists don't usually cause false beats (bass string are routinely twisted without that problem).
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David Love RPT
www.davidlovepianos.com
davidlovepianos@comcast.net
415 407 8320
Original Message:
Sent: 09-06-2021 08:21
From: Victor Belanger
Subject: False beats with F2 area Steinway "B"
Hi everyone,
Has anyone experienced false beats on one of the string of a trichord in the F2,F#2,G2 area that is usually just one side of a wraparound string.
I am trying to figure out if it is a twist in the string, burr in the agraffe, or something else that I am missing. I am entertaining the idea next time I go to:
1) change the direction of the string from turning it around and see if it would go away. For example this one is a neighbor w/ F#2's 1st trichord.
2) replacing the string
3) file the inside of the agraffe
This is to the first time this happened. I remember once when I resting a "B", same area and the string was making a similar false beat. I was a able to get away with it, being in a classroom and thought to address it, but never did.
Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Victor Belanger
Belmont, MA