String Breakage on Octave Dulcimer

I just wanted to share my adventures with this problem...

I had a lot of trouble getting my 20" vsl melody string tuned to d (the d an octave above "normal" for a dulcimer). I got constant breakage at c or c# on most attempts and in only one case managed to get it to d, only to have it break after a few minutes. This was with .008" strings from Strothers as well as some other strings I had around.

I finally realized that the loop ends were unwinding and the loops failing. I tried making my own loops with the same problem. Then I tried silver soldering them with a micro torch, but found it impossible to not overheat the .008" wire. Finally I used a soldering gun and silver solder and the resulting loop has held up under an hour of playing so far, so I think that the soldering is finally a solution.