Dave writes: << After 3 - 4 years they just get that way. After restringing the capo sections they calm down for a while and then in a few years it's time to do the whole piano. Kawai's might be more prone to that than some, but our practice room pianos now are all Steinways and they do the same thing. It really is string fatigue. They pretty much all break at the capo bar. >> I will ditto that for the Yamahas we have at Vanderbilt. after three years, I am replacing, on average, two-three strings per week among the 7 C-2's in the practise rooms. The softly voiced pianos break them as commonly as the harsh ones. The Steinway's are no exception, I had three strings break on a pair of L's that were no more than 6 months old. Oddly enough, two of these strings broke at the bridge, which is something I have seen only once before in 30 years. Carbon steel has a finite number of times it will allow its plastic deformation limit to be exceeded. A steady stream of testosterone-poisoned Liszt wa nnabes is hard on the pianos, but good on job security. I do think that the Mapes Gold series of wire is more durable than the stock Yamaha wire. I know that the Yamaha bass strings will break right at the coil if the string lifter flexes them more than once. I say, "let'em break, that is what I am there for." Ed Foote RPT http://www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/index.html www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC