Inharmonicity of wound guitar strings

Wound guitar strings are known to “go dead” after several hours of playing. Increased inharmonicity of string partials is thought to be the primary contributing factor, making exact tuning of strings impossible. Increased inharmonicity with age is mostly due to changes in mass distribution rather than changes in stiffness. String aging can be artificially induced by repeated stretching and releasing of a new string. Measurements of the frequencies of the first ten partials in standard brass‐wound steel guitar strings show that inharmonicity is significantly increased by repeated stretching. The inharmonic effect of stretching can be greatly reduced, however, if the strings are stress relieved by heat after winding.