In response to Hal Davis' view on the sustain pedal and piano strings: I
believe the Aeolian people would have had 255 steps or more of pedal, and
key velocity too, if they didn't go under at the time.  One must remember
that what we speak today is as a result of the evolution from yesterday.

If one does assume that something is good enough, nothing new will ever
be invented and no development and ideas will form around a subject in
the human mind.  I think that we should continue to criticize things in
order to get peoples' minds to work so that these things can be even
further refined.  If this was not the case, there would not even be a
piano today, never mind a sustain pedal.

From practical piano-building, I know that a music wire sounds at its
most pleasant to the human ear just before its breaking point.  Good
pianos are therefore constructed in such a way that the wire is under
such tension that it almost (not quite) breaks.  The wire will continue
to sound at its best as long as the pitch of the instrument (tension) is
not lowered too much.  Experiments have shown that not even surface rust
on the steel makes a noticeable sound difference to the string in a
piano.

It is therefore not true to say that the instrument should be re-strung
to keep its sound characteristics the same.  Violins and guitars, as well
as any other instrument with strings that are touched by the human
fingers or are exposed to smoky and fatty air, need their strings
replaced regularly.  This is due to the fact that oil and grime soil the
strings which does indeed change the sound characteristics quite
substantially after a while.  guitarists have been known to boil the used
strings in soapy water which will restore them somewhat.

No one touches the strings of a piano and even the people stringing them
wear gloves to prevent fingerprints just for this purpose.  However, I
have seen a couple of grand pianos which were used in a dance venue
situation.  These pianos are open and their strings are exposed to human
sweaty air and smoke from cigarettes, cooking etc.  The strings of these
pianos do change their sound characteristics from brilliant to dull to
horrible (tinny).

This effect is greatly enhanced by opening all the doors and windows of
the venue after the ball while the piano is still open.  This causes all
the oily sweat and smoke to condense onto the strings, especially
into the copper windings of the bass strings.  I have more than once
'repaired' such bass strings by removing them and washing them in solvent
for a couple of hours.  This greatly improves their sound, if done
properly.  (I do this because no replacement strings are easily available
in South Africa).  Once again, I state all this just to keep the
discussion going.

Regards,
Bernt W. Damm
Cape Town, South Africa
E-Mail  bdamm@maxwell.ctech.ac.za

 [ High-carbon steel, from which music wire is made, "work hardens"
 [ due to the vibration, and eventually breaks.  The hardening (actually,
 [ changes in the crystalline structure) is accompanied by greater energy
 [ losses in the harmonics (the 'partials'), and so the guitarist changes
 [ the guitar strings often just to have the "brilliant" tone.  Oil from
 [ the hands hastens the sound deterioration by creeping into the tiny
 [ cracks in the wire, and of course acids create internal rusting.
 [ That's why a newly re-strung piano has a noticeably "brighter" tone --
 [ for a few weeks, anyhow!  -- Robbie