Piano wire, or "music wire", is a specialized type of

wire file:Sample cross-section of high tension power (pylon) line.jpg, Overhead power cabling. The conductor consists of seven strands of steel (centre, high tensile strength), surrounded by four outer layers of aluminium (high conductivity). Sample d ...

made for use in

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

strings but also in other applications as springs. It is made from tempered high-carbon

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

, also known as

spring steel Spring steel is a name given to a wide range of steels used in the manufacture of different products, including swords, saw blades, springs and many more. These steels are generally low-alloy manganese, medium-carbon steel or high-carbon stee ...

, which replaced iron as the material starting in 1834. Piano wire has a very high

tensile strength Ultimate tensile strength (also called UTS, tensile strength, TS, ultimate strength or F_\text in notation) is the maximum stress that a material can withstand while being stretched or pulled before breaking. In brittle materials, the ultimate ...

to cope with the heavy demands placed upon piano strings; accordingly, piano wire is also used for a number of other purposes, including springs, surgical uses, and in

special effects Special effects (often abbreviated as F/X or simply FX) are illusions or visual tricks used in the theatre, film, television, video game, amusement park and simulator industries to simulate the fictional events in a story or virtual world. ...

History

The oldest record of wire being made for musical instruments is from

Augsburg Augsburg ( , ; ; ) is a city in the Bavaria, Bavarian part of Swabia, Germany, around west of the Bavarian capital Munich. It is a College town, university town and the regional seat of the Swabia (administrative region), Swabia with a well ...

in 1351.Dolge (1911, 124) Starting around 1800, the piano began to be built ever more ambitiously, with sturdier (eventually, iron) framing and greater string tension. This led to innovations in making tougher piano wire. In 1834, the Webster & Horsfal firm of

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

brought out a form of piano wire made from

cast steel Steel casting is a specialized form of casting involving various types of steel cast to either final/net or near-net shape. Steel castings are used when iron castings cannot deliver enough strength or shock resistance.Oberg, p. 1332 Examples ...

; according to Dolge it was "so superior to the iron wire that the English firm soon had a monopoly." But a better steel wire was soon created in 1840 by the

Viennese Viennese may refer to: * Vienna, the capital of Austria * Viennese people, List of people from Vienna * Viennese German, the German dialect spoken in Vienna * Viennese classicism * Viennese coffee house, an eating establishment and part of Viennese ...

firm of Martin Miller, and a period of innovation and intense competition ensued, with rival brands of piano wire being tested against one another at international competitions, leading ultimately to the modern form of piano wire.

Manufacture and use

The

ASTM ASTM International, formerly known as American Society for Testing and Materials, is a standards organization that develops and publishes voluntary consensus technical international standards for a wide range of materials, products, systems and s ...

standar
A228
covers the manufacture of steel wire for use in musical instruments, including pianos and guitars. This standard specifies a

Young's modulus Young's modulus (or the Young modulus) is a mechanical property of solid materials that measures the tensile or compressive stiffness when the force is applied lengthwise. It is the modulus of elasticity for tension or axial compression. Youn ...

of 207 GPa. The

of one popular brand of piano wire is listed as 26202930

MPa MPA or mPa may refer to: Academia Academic degrees * Master of Performing Arts * Master of Professional Accountancy * Master of Public Administration * Master of Public Affairs Schools * Mesa Preparatory Academy * Morgan Park Academy * M ...

(380425

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Piano wire sizes

Other applications

Piano wire is also used in the fabrication of springs, fishing lures,

in the movie industry,Fielding, Raymond, ''Techniques of Special Effects of Cinematography'', , pp. 330,384 scaffold cross-bracing,

orthodontic Orthodontics (also referred to as orthodontia) is a dentistry specialty that addresses the diagnosis, prevention, management, and correction of mal-positioned teeth and jaws, as well as misaligned bite patterns. It may also address the modificati ...

and pharyngeal surgery, and for the cutting of cheese and soap. It is also commonly used in hobby applications such as model railroading, both

control line Control line (also called U-Control) is a simple and light way of controlling a flying model aircraft. The aircraft is typically connected to the operator by a pair of lines, attached to a handle, that work the elevator of the model. This allo ...

and

radio-controlled aircraft A radio-controlled aircraft (often called RC aircraft or RC plane) is a small flying machine that is radio controlled by an operator on the ground using a hand-held radio transmitter. The transmitter continuously communicates with a receiver (rad ...

, and knitting. It has also been employed by assassins as a

garrote A garrote ( ; alternatively spelled as garotte and similar variants)''Oxford English Dictionary'', 11th Ed: garrotte is normal British English spelling, with single r alternate. Article title is US English spelling variant. or garrote vil () is ...

.Newquist, H.P. and Maloof, Rich, ''This Will Kill You: A Guide to the Ways in Which We Go'', New York: St. Martin's Press, (2009), pp. 133-6Whittaker, Wayne, ''Tough Guys'', Popular Mechanics, February 1943, Vol. 79 No. 2, pp. 44Steele, David E., ''Silent Sentry Removal'', Black Belt Magazine, August 1986, Vol. 24 No. 8, pp. 48-49

Notes

References

* Dolge, Alfred (1911) ''Pianos and Their Makers: A Comprehensive History of the Development of the Piano from the Monochord to the Concert Grand Player Piano''. Covina Publishing Company. * Louchet, Jean (2013) ''The Keyboard Stringing Guide — for the restoration of pianos, harpsichords and clavichords''. Published by Lulu.com.

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 {{Strings (music) Piano wire