i got round to trying this,  but the brass wire keeps breaking


-----Original Message-----
From: Harpsichords and Related Topics
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Tilman Skowroneck
Sent: Saturday, November 08, 2003 9:02 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Hitchpin loops and more on nut-pins


I don't even use a hook-hammer-thingie, nor a nail. I bend over the string,
keep the loop in the non-dominant hand [most folks fill in: "left"], and
twist the short end and the string with the dominant hand.
I actually found that turning the last short bit of the end around the
string _is_ often necessary, or the loop unwinds again.
Most important is to wind both sides equally. Slip only occurs if one part
of the wire is straight. Both must be twisted.

Paper clip lengthening: very good trick, and has been a life saver more
than once. I always keep some short bits of thick gauges in my toolbox
instead of paper clips, it looks a little neater.

On reusing old strings and breakage: the risk of breakage does not
necessarily when re-using strings. Of course, IF the scaling is risky, and
IF the string is brittle brass, you're right, but that should not be the
rule, right?
Sometimes tampering with slip-loop improvement already kills thin brass,
okay.
If on the other hand, you have an instrument with a safe scaling, and
certainly if the string in question is soft iron of sorts, there should be
no risk at all.
Avoiding kinks and twisted strings applies to any string anyway, because
they sound bad.

Nut pins: I did some tests of my own and found, unlike I wrote earlier,
that even on "healthy" nut pins the addition of a weight dulls the tone, so
this is no useful test at all. [carefully] Pressing the non-sounding end
against the pin with one's hand to increase side bearing might on the other
hand show, if side bearing is really the trouble.

Tilman