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Guitar Strings: Bronze Wound on Steel, Then Heat-Soaked (Stone and Falcone 1977)
A wound string is a steel core with another wire wrapped round it. Stone and Falcone believed the wrap keeps stresses from the winding and slowly unwinds as the string is played, so the tone goes dead. Their fix: after winding, heat-soak the string, at least 2 hours at 270 °F or 30 minutes at 480 °F for a bronze wrap, then let it cool.
Source: W. N. Stone and A. S. Falcone (National Musical String Co.), US 4,063,674 (1977). Unknown: the winding itself (the patent calls it conventional), where phosphor bronze wire comes from, and the gauges. These are linked to unknown heads. The plain strings of the set are steel music wire; that, the oven and the nitrogen are ours. Picture drawn by Youblob.
Advanced
1 day
Instructions
1
1
Cut the core and plain strings
Cut the core and plain strings
Cut steel music wire for the cores of the wound strings and for the plain strings of the set. Unknown: the gauges and lengths, and the ball ends.
Materials for this step:
Steel Music Wire 0.032"1 as requiredTools needed:
Wire Cutters
Unknown Dimensions2
2
Wind the bronze wrap at room temperature
Wind the bronze wrap at room temperature
Wrap phosphor bronze wire helically round each core at room temperature. The patent prefers a wrap that expands more with heat than the core. Unknown: how; the patent says only 'in a conventional manner'.
Materials for this step:
Phosphor Bronze Wire1 as requiredTools needed:
Unknown Winding MethodUnknown Dimensions
Safety Glasses3
3
Heat-soak the wound strings
Heat-soak the wound strings
Heat the wound strings for a bronze wrap at 270-480 °F (132-249 °C): at least 2 hours at 270 °F or at least 30 minutes at 480 °F, shorter the hotter. If the wire tarnishes in hot air, do it without air, in nitrogen or carbon dioxide. The wrap's turns settle into more even spacing.
Tools needed:
Oven
Thermometer - Lab
Nitrogen Gas Cylinder4
4
Cool and set up the set
Cool and set up the set
Let the strings cool back to room temperature. Make up the set with the plain steel strings.
Tools needed:
Wire CuttersMaterials
2- 1 as requiredPlaceholder
- 1 as requiredPlaceholder
Tools Required
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