Music WireWhat is music wire?
What is music wire?
Piano strings are made from what is often called piano wire. However, piano makers and tuners refer to this as music wire and are careful to distinguish it from other types of piano wire used for springs and the like. In fact, music wire is made from the highest quality steel and manufactured to stringent standards through production processes that differ from those of ordinary industrial piano wire. If the piano is the king of instruments, then music wire can also be said to be the king of wires.
How many strings does a piano have?
The number of strings in a conventional piano today is about 230. Although this varies somewhat depending on the instrument, a standard configuration might have 189 bare strings in the treble to middle registers, 32 strings wound with a single strand of 0.2 to 1.9 mm copper wire in the bass section, and about nine double-wound strings in the lowest bass register.
Since a modern acoustic piano typically has 88 keys, it's obvious that the number of keys and strings do not match. This is because most piano keys are designed to strike several strings at once?one or two strings per note in the lower registers, and two to three in the mid to upper registers. The length of the strings and the thickness or gauge of the wire gradually decrease as the pitch of the notes increases. However, with each of the 230 strings stretched to an average tension of 60 to 100 kgf, the cumulative tension can be up to 20 tons.
When and how did this current configuration come to be?
The history of music wire is closely tied to the history of the piano itself. Thus, knowing the history of this wire may be a good place to start in learning about pianos. Since a number of websites already focus on the history of the piano, let's take a different look from the vantage point of the wire that makes it possible.
