[CAUT] unusual repair

[Fred Sturm]

Hi Wim,
	I agree with Rick, and will add that I have successfully spliced low  
bass strings on D's. C1 and C#1 on our current older D were both  
spliced more than five years ago, with no sign of problem since.  
Removing one of those pins, removing the becket, and replacing with  
oversize is a bear of a job, hard to be successful at (though I've  
done that, too, on A0 and A#0 on another I care for. The memory is  
not a fond one. Thank god for CA. I don't plan to do it again).
	The trick to splicing such thick strings is to have the right wire,  
saved from bass scraps (excess length cut off before installing) on  
an earlier stringing job. Bass string scraps can match the diameter  
(usually larger than #21), and are usually more malleable wire, so  
will take a tuner's knot better. And the usual techniques, like  
removing the tail from the hitchpin so you have maximum unwrapped  
wire to work with. I do keep a full set as backup.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico
fssturm at unm.edu



On Feb 22, 2007, at 12:55 PM, Rick Florence wrote:

> A few questions come to mind:
>
> 1.  Why pull a pin in an old D right before a concert when a few  
> drops of CA
> glue would have done the trick?
>
> 2.  Why not splice the string?
>
> 3.  Do you not keep a set of strings in your inventory?
>
> ____________________
> Rick Florence
> Senior Piano Technician
> Arizona State University
> School of Music
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf  
> Of Willem
> Blees
> Sent: Thursday, February 22, 2007 12:33 PM
> To: CAUT
> Subject: [CAUT] unusual repair
>
> We've got a concert tonight featuring Aleck Karis. He prefered
> the "old" Steinway. One of the problems with this instrument is that
> there are several pins in octave 1 that are not very tight. Yesterday,
> low E finally gave out. So this morning I replaced it with a 4, but in
> the process, the string broke. First at the becket, but then after I
> wrestled with that for a few minutes, as I brought it up to pitch, the
> string broke at the pin. I told the professor in charge of this
> concert that there is nothing I could, and the Alexk would have to use
> the "new" D. An hour later I got a call from one of our piano
> professors, who has a D in his studio. He said "use my E". I said I
> would try, but there would be a chance that that string would break
> too. He said, what have we got to loose?
>
> So I did. I took the E off his piano, and put it on the concert hall
> piano. So far, knock on wood, it's working. Another first for me.
>
> PS: I did order another E, but it won't be here until tomorrow.
> Obviously not in time for tonight's concert, but in time for this
> weekend's concert, featuring Boris Berman, playing Mozart #2.
>
> Wim
> Willem Blees, RPT
> Piano Tuner/Technician
> School of Music
> University of Alabama
> Tuscaloosa, AL USA
> 205-348-1469
>
>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/caut.php/attachments/20070222/c6980a1c/attachment.html