Piano wire is a specialized type of wire made for use in piano and other musical instrument strings, as well as many other purposes. It is made from tempered high-carbon steel, also known as "spring steel". Music wire is another name for piano wire: it is used for the cores of strings, which may be wound with other materials. Music wire is used for a variety of stringed instruments that use steel strings, such as guitars.

Manufacture and use

General-purpose, high-carbon steel, drawn music wire (such as ASTM A228) is manufactured in both inch and metric gauges 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 strength polished wire intended for limited music instrument markets, which is manufactured from steel of a specific composition by cold drawing. Musical instrument strings are among the most demanding of all its applications. Placed under high tension, they are subject to repeated blows, are bent, stretched and slackened during tuning and are still expected to last for decades in piano service. The wire must also be extremely consistent in size: variations greater than 0.0003 inch (8 μm) will produce audible falseness in modern instruments.

Music wire evolved from handmade ductile iron to continuously drawn carbon steel by the end of the nineteenth century, and the international competition for higher strength benefitted from demands of consistency from other special wire products like telegraph and barbed wire. Innovative piano makers kept pace with advances in this important auxiliary industry by increasing the size and tensions in their string scales.

Music 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.

See also

• Piano acoustics

External links

• Jean Louchet, Stringing gauge table and equivalents
• 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

Manufacturers of piano wire

• Mapes (United States)
• NewOctave Corporation (United States)
• Röslau (Germany)

References

• Beschloss, Michael R., The Conquerors: Roosevelt, Truman and the Destruction of Hitler's Germany, 1941-1945, Simon & Schuster, 2002, ISBN 0684810271

Notes