Hi,
As a guitarist I find I am having trouble with new strings and getting them to a stable point where they have stopped stretching (and therefore stay in tune better). I was wondering about the physics of this process. When stretching a wire (in this case 'drawn, high carbon steel', some axially wound with phosphor-bronze wire), will the string ever reach a point of stability ? - i.e. it's not going to stretch any further ?
...or do the physics dictate that it will eventually reach a stable point (i.e. stop stretching) for a specified tension - T kg and will remain stable from zero kg to T kg tension, only stretching further if
is to stretch the strings with a tension slightly greater than that encountered in normal use.
...or will it just continue to stretch linearly until it snaps ?
I'm trying to work out the best way of stretching new strings so that they remain stable at normal 'operating' tension (i.e. stay in tune !), but without affecting it's 'oscillation qualities'. I exceeded a threshold of some sort earlier with one wound string by over-stretching, rendering it useless.
There are many theories in the guitarist community on how best to stretch strings, all of them apparently based on nothing more scientific than 'I do it this way and always have'. I'm just wondering what the science is behind it.
Many thanks in advance !
Cheers,
Kev.