Richard Lipp strings

[graeme]

I have a Richard Lipp upright circa 1885 that I have started restoring. I have a couple of questions that someone may be able to answer:

1. The bass strings winding is a silvery colour (rather than copper colour). It is not iron/steel . I suspect it is "German Silver" otherwise known as cupronickel alloy. Can someone please confirm the likelihood? If this is the case then can they be replaced with copper wound of the same dimensions?

2. The plain wire strings have the guage stamped on the pinblock. I believe the strings on it are original. I measured one string marked 19 and the thickness matches modern 18 1/2 guage. I suspect that the difference is due to stretching over the (many) years, however I understand that there have been a number of gauge standards over the years. Can someone please confirm whether or not the German guages in use in 1885 match our modern guages.

Many thanks,

Graeme

[Bill Kibby]

That's not something I could answer off the top of my head, I'll see what I can find, people have done research, but it is all reconstructed, there doesn't seem to have been any comparison done at the time.

[Bill Kibby]

Bruce Hardy told me that "Gauge # 16 is .950 mm for modern Roslau wire, but for Webster wire is .910mm, for Muller wire it is .886mm and something different for every brand which existed in 1875".

[graeme]

Thanks Bill,
In the meantime I have been doing some searching too. I discovered a company that produces wire that matches the characteristics of the wire used around 1860 - 1890. http://www.puresound-wire.com/
It has information on wire gauges used at the time. Apparently Pohlmann wire was most commonly used after 1867 by the leading pianomakers.
Gauge #16 Pohlman is 0.930 mm so it is not too far away from Roslau (0.950mm). It also seems consistent with the measurements that I get on the strings on the Lipp.
The puresound company is interesting. Apparently the lower tensile strength of the wire used late 1800s meant that there was increased string load percentage which contibuted to the tone. Modern wire gives inferior results as a result of the lower string load and greater stiffness.
Have you come across this wire being used?

Cheers,

Graeme

[Bill Kibby]

I don't do major restringing work, I have a friend who is much better at it, but the instruments he works on are usually more modern, so these problems don't arise.