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Topic: Why do strings go bad? |
Curt Langston
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Posted 2 Sep 2005 4:47 am |
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| Uhh...sorry guys. I don't buy all the stuff about molecular changes due to stretching, some modulus of elasticity, or whatever. |
Ever take a chemistry class?
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I'd rather be opinionated, than apathetic!
[This message was edited by Curt Langston on 02 September 2005 at 05:49 AM.] |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 2 Sep 2005 8:00 am
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| Quote: |
| Ever take a chemistry class? |
Yes, many of them! However, I don't let that override common sense. The string still degrades due to rust, corrosion, and wear.
I'm not going to belabor this, other than to say that the string loses it's uniformity due to surface degradation, and that's why it goes dead. Uniform structures resonate far more readily than those those that aren't. When the mass becomes inconsistent, the pure harmonic structure is disrupted. Piano strings are under tension all the time, yet they last 75-100 years. They vibrate just like guitar strings. They're tuned and stressed just like guitar strings. The only difference is that we don't have physical contact between our hands and the strings on a piano. (Don't mention pedal changes as a major influence...non-pedaled strings on a guitar go dead too!)
My "opinion" is that it's surface degradation due to rust, corrosion, and the bar wearing the strings in the lower frets that causes deadness, as well as intonation problems. That's my explanation...until someone else comes up with a better one! 
(Be careful! I've taken physics clases too.  ) |
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Rick Collins
From:
Claremont , CA USA
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Damir Besic
From:
Nashville,TN.
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Bob Hoffnar
From:
Austin, Tx
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Posted 4 Sep 2005 11:37 pm
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Donny,
You idea about string life and corrosion has been proven false by steel builders and players experimenting with coated strings. The coated strings last quite a bit longer on a standard guitar but on a pedalsteel they don't help with string life. The constant stretching on a pedal steel string kills it way before the crud does. Corrosion sure doesn't help anything but it has turned out not to be the main issue.
Bob |
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jim milewski
From:
stowe, vermont
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Posted 5 Sep 2005 6:30 am
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| maybe cause they hang around with other bad strings? |
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