Why wound strings?

Greg Vincent · From: Folsom, CA USA

Hi folks,

Just wondering why, beyond a certain gauge, we use wound strings on stringed instruments. Would a plain string of large diameter be too brittle or sound "thuddy"?

I've never seen a plain guitar string thicker than .022 or so. Don't pianos use thicker plain strings? How come those guys get away with it?

-Curious in L.A.

[This message was edited by Greg Vincent on 17 June 2003 at 08:46 AM.]

[This message was edited by Greg Vincent on 17 June 2003 at 08:48 AM.]

Tony LaCroix · From: Austin, Texas, USA

There are two ways to lower the pitch of a streched wire, make it impractically long or make it thicker. A full grand piano uses the longest possible bass strings, thus providing the best possible trade-off between tone and length (A highly wound, short string has a poorer tone that lightly-wound, longer one, within reason).

If your guitar had all plain strings, the bass strings would have to be many meters long in order to resonate properly. The windings increase the density of the string without increasing its length.

Greg Vincent · From: Folsom, CA USA

Thanks Tony,

I guess what I'm asking is this:

Why aren't heavier gauge plain strings available? Why does it have to stop around .022?

-GV

Tony LaCroix · From: Austin, Texas, USA

The longest plain strings on a piano are about .040" in diameter, which is about twice the diameter of the thickest plain guitar string. BUT, this string is at least twice as long on an upright or grand piano as the G string on an electric guitar, making this density practical for piano, but not for guitar.

If you'd like to experiment with heavy plain strings, they can be purchased at any piano supply store, but you'll have to figure out how to get by without a ball-end.

[This message was edited by Tony LaCroix on 17 June 2003 at 09:42 AM.]

John Kavanagh · From: Kentville, Nova Scotia, Canada * R.I.P.

GHS used to make them up to at least .026. The lady at the music store said I was the only one who bought them, except for the fudge shop that used them in their slicer.

I've tried very heavy unwound strings (the .026 was a g string on my Stratocaster), and there's certainly a limit. Wound strings are much more flexible for a given weight-per-inch, and that's the real advantage.

If you had, say, a .052 plain for your Guitar E string, it would have very little sustain, and only the open string would only play in tune. It would be too short to be usefully flexible at that thickness. Imagine using a plain .022 that was only two inches long. Not much sustain, eh? Like hitting a steel bar.

The limits are a little different for gut and nylon and brass and so on, but there's always a definite limit, especially if you're going to stop the string with your fingers. (You might be able to go a little heavier than .026p on steel guitar, but the harmonics aren't true either on the real thick ones, and you get this weird zingy sound).

If you want to push the limits, you can get rolls of guaged wire for strings from harpsichord supply houses, with a little gadget for putting loop ends on them. Try a google search on harpsichord strings.

If you want a smoother sound with less difference in tone between bass and treble, round-wound guitar strings might be a better option.

Wound strings are usually said to have been invented around 1700, though there were probably experiments earlier. It made a huge difference in stringed instruments, since low-pitched strings could now be shorter.

The theorbo (a lute with an extra pegbox like a harp-guitar) was almost immediately replaced as a solo instrument by lutes with all the bass strings on the same neck, something that really wasn't possible before.

Wound strings also made the cello a much more practical and better-sounding instrument, the g string on a fiddle more useable, and even made the 6-string guitar in modern tuning possible. Before that, guitars had five pairs of strings with 5 and sometimes 4 an octave higher, like a ukulele.

Not that you asked...

[This message was edited by John Kavanagh on 19 June 2003 at 12:34 PM.]

Greg Vincent · From: Folsom, CA USA

Thanks guys,

Let me see if I have this right:

1. A heavy gauge plain string would be too rigid to sustain properly.

2. A wound string of a given gauge has more mass than a plain string of the same gauge, and therefore can be shorter for a given pitch.

(That surprises me. I would've thought an .050 wound string would have less density that a solid, plain strand of .050 wire.)

I'm not actually thinking about using thick plain strings, I was just wondering why we don't use them. I want to be able to explain the purpose of wound strings in case I'm ever asked.

Thanks,

-GV

[This message was edited by Greg Vincent on 17 June 2003 at 10:55 AM.]

Jim Smith · From: Midlothian, TX, USA

Greg Vincent · From: Folsom, CA USA

Thanks Jim, I revised that post.

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

Also, a heavy-guage string made of solid steel would take a lot more tension to make it resonate properly. I suspect you'd be breaking off the tuning keys pretty often.

John Kavanagh · From: Kentville, Nova Scotia, Canada * R.I.P.

There are really three variables that affect the pitch of a string: mass, length, and tension. Once you've put the strings on, you can only control the tension, of course, but we've all noticed that you can't tune a string too far off its intended pitch without it either breaking or sounding different. There are limits on each variable; a string too taut for its weight(and strength) will break at a certain pitch, a string too loose for its weight and length won't vibrate properly, and so on.

Playing with the variables within the limits affects the tone - that's why a long-scale guitar sounds different from a short-scale guitar with the same strings - they're tauter at the same pitch.

The problem with extra-heavy wound strings is that they're not flexible enough for their length, yet another variable. You can get more mass-per-inch without losing flexibility by winding wire around a core, and that's the big advantage with wound strings - not the extra mass so much as the extra flexibility for a given mass.

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