Pianotech

Hmm.
Chris, you mentioned "over-zealous on the swage", and "creaking".  That dead tone reminds me of a wound string which is contaminated with crud or corrosion; cure (sometimes) is to remove string and roll a running loop of the string down the full length (I'm sure you know the drill).  So this got me thinking of this possible scenario: 

As string is brought up to pitch, the core wire elongates resulting in slight separation of the winding turns.  This separation is good, as it gives the nice tone (corroded strings rub at each winding turn rapidly attenuating the higher partials).
But maybe on your strings, as you approach the target pitch, windings covering one of the swaged ends slip, permitting the windings to collapse slightly along the core and rub -- killing the tone.  I know this sounds like a long shot, but I've never heard this particular defect before!
You might try letting the pitch down (which lets the core "retract" into the windings).  Then pull pitch up just *before* you start losing the tone.  Then try tapping the winding over a swage (could be either end) and see it that kills the tone.

Good luck!

Hmm.
Chris, you mentioned "over-zealous on the swage", and "creaking".  That dead tone reminds me of a wound string which is contaminated with crud or corrosion; cure (sometimes) is to remove string and roll a running loop of the string down the full length (I'm sure you know the drill).  So this got me thinking of this possible scenario: 

As string is brought up to pitch, the core wire elongates resulting in slight separation of the winding turns.  This separation is good, as it gives the nice tone (corroded strings rub at each winding turn rapidly attenuating the higher partials).
But maybe on your strings, as you approach the target pitch, windings covering one of the swaged ends slip, permitting the windings to collapse slightly along the core and rub -- killing the tone.  I know this sounds like a long shot, but I've never heard this particular defect before!
You might try letting the pitch down (which lets the core "retract" into the windings).  Then pull pitch up just *before* you start losing the tone.  Then try tapping the winding over a swage (could be either end) and see it that kills the tone.

Good luck!

Hmm.
Chris, you mentioned "over-zealous on the swage", and "creaking".  That dead tone reminds me of a wound string which is contaminated with crud or corrosion; cure (sometimes) is to remove string and roll a running loop of the string down the full length (I'm sure you know the drill).  So this got me thinking of this possible scenario: 

As string is brought up to pitch, the core wire elongates resulting in slight separation of the winding turns.  This separation is good, as it gives the nice tone (corroded strings rub at each winding turn rapidly attenuating the higher partials).
But maybe on your strings, as you approach the target pitch, windings covering one of the swaged ends slip, permitting the windings to collapse slightly along the core and rub -- killing the tone.  I know this sounds like a long shot, but I've never heard this particular defect before!
You might try letting the pitch down (which lets the core "retract" into the windings).  Then pull pitch up just *before* you start losing the tone.  Then try tapping the winding over a swage (could be either end) and see it that kills the tone.

Good luck!

Hmm.
Chris, you mentioned "over-zealous on the swage", and "creaking".  That dead tone reminds me of a wound string which is contaminated with crud or corrosion; cure (sometimes) is to remove string and roll a running loop of the string down the full length (I'm sure you know the drill).  So this got me thinking of this possible scenario: 

As string is brought up to pitch, the core wire elongates resulting in slight separation of the winding turns.  This separation is good, as it gives the nice tone (corroded strings rub at each winding turn rapidly attenuating the higher partials).
But maybe on your strings, as you approach the target pitch, windings covering one of the swaged ends slip, permitting the windings to collapse slightly along the core and rub -- killing the tone.  I know this sounds like a long shot, but I've never heard this particular defect before!
You might try letting the pitch down (which lets the core "retract" into the windings).  Then pull pitch up just *before* you start losing the tone.  Then try tapping the winding over a swage (could be either end) and see it that kills the tone.

Good luck!