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

wire 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 diameter 40 mm A wire is a flexible strand of metal. Wire is c ...

made for use in

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

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

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

, 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 (UTS), often shortened to tensile strength (TS), ultimate strength, or F_\text within equations, is the maximum stress that a material can withstand while being stretched or pulled before breaking. In brittle materials t ...

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 SFX, 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 imagined events in a story or virtual wor ...

History

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

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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

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United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

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

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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

of one popular brand of piano wire is listed as 26202930

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(380425

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

model railroading Railway modelling (UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland) or model railroading (US and Canada) is a hobby in which rail transport systems are modelled at a reduced scale. The scale models include locomotives, rolling stock, streetcars, t ...

, both

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

and

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

, and knitting. At least in urban legend, it is employed by assassins as a garrote.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