"Mr. Acworth's jump from the particle physics world 'Superstring Theory' to music strings is a quantum leap in the wrong direction, and I'm afraid a perfect example of the old proverb 'a little knowledge is a dangerous thing'.

Superstrings were nothing to do with musical string or any other strings for that matter, the word was used as a convenient description of the matter that forms the basic building blocks of the universe... Using a coiled magnetic field to contain plasma is not a new idea; it is the basis of the dream of cheap electricity from ZETA to the present day 'Tokomaks'. An open-ended coil will not contain plasma; the system must be a toroid. Apart from anything else a wound string built on the basis of a music string would not have the required strength. I cannot see any future in pursuing this idea.

A wound musical string such as a guitar string relies on the central core for its strength. The coiled section is there to add weight, and therefor lower the frequency; it adds nothing to the strength of the string. The only use for the 'flat' wound string is to enable a rock and roll guitarist to slide his or her fingers over the fret board more quickly. The sustain properties of a musical instrument depend upon the material of which the instrument is made and the manner of playing, rather than the string. A violin has sustain because the bow constantly vibrates the string; indeed the body of a violin is heavily varnished in an attempt to quieten the instrument. On the other hand an acoustic guitar has poor sustain and is only lightly varnished so as not to kill any sustain that there is; there have also been many many experiments with different shaped back and side panels to eliminate dead spots and areas where sound can be 'trapped'. I would refer Mr. Acworth to the experiments by Leo Fender and Les Paul, who independently found that a guitar string had more sustain when used on a solid body. Hence, the development of the solid bodied electric guitar. The majority of these are made of a hard wood and the best have steel or brass inserts under the bridge to increase sustain.

The feedback Mr. Acworth mentions is no more than the effect of taking an electric guitar close to its associated speaker, when feedback or 'howl round' becomes obvious. I have departed from Mr. Acworth's plasma containment idea to discuss his other concepts. I defer to his knowledge of music strings, but I am sure that he will agree with me that a string is only as good as the instrument it is fitted to. I do not wish to appear flippant, but knowledge of the acoustic properties of catgut and brass does not explain Beethoven's fifth symphony. Likewise knowledge of musical string construction does not add to the theory of particle physics..."

Once again thank you for for sending such a well-supported explanation of your idea to support a speaking length of ionising gas plasma within a composite music string. It is with regret that I have to send what I know will be a disappointing reply but as previously stated our knowledge of music string behaviour is limited. On the other hand the basics of particle physics is fully understood but not as a combined concept within a composite wound music string. Yours sincerely...