The brass half round is nice. I’ve done it like Jon as well as without any felt between the brass and the agraffes. With the felt it looks more conventional for the purists, without the felt it sounds slightly more alive in that section. I find that the question is usually more like “If Steinway thought that would be better wouldn’t they have done it that way”. Thanks for the offer but I trust you’ll do a good job setting them straight <g>. David Love www.davidlovepianos.com From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Paul T Williams Sent: Tuesday, August 03, 2010 2:35 PM To: caut at ptg.org Subject: Re: [CAUT] When to restring... Like the brass half round thing, David! I'll try it with some sort of explanation to the new students! :>) It should work! What do I say to the newby's who ask, "Why didn't Steinway do that in the first place??" I'll send them to you! <G> Paul From: "David Love" <davidlovepianos at comcast.net> To: <caut at ptg.org> Date: 08/03/2010 04:28 PM Subject: Re: [CAUT] When to restring... _____ When it either renders poorly, is breaking strings, has bridge and capo deterioration, sounds like crap even with new hammers (assuming reasonable soundboard health). My approach is to never leave anything undone that I might regret later. All full restringing jobs get plate removal; examination of the pinblock (not always replacement if I can limit the size increase to 3.5s or lo-torque 4s); resurfacing, pinning, notching of the bridge (and often recapping of capo section); new agraffes (I like to replace rather than recondition for various reasons); reshaped capo bar, new WNG perimeter bolts (adjustable). Cosmetics on the soundboard and plate will depend on condition and age and how clean I get things to come apart. On older pianos if I strip the board I put a coat of epoxy on it to stiffen it—never met one that didn’t benefit from it). I always replace the cardboard/felt piece in the tenor section with a length of brass half round. I always analyze the scaling. David Love www.davidlovepianos.com From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [ <mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org> mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Paul T Williams Sent: Tuesday, August 03, 2010 9:21 AM To: CAUTlist Subject: [CAUT] When to restring... Hi all, When do you all decide when to restring a grand? I have now in the shop a S&S M from the 60's from one of our classrooms. Besides an action overhaul with new hammers, shanks and flanges, I'm considering restringing. It is original (I think) with lots of corrosion on the plain wires. The bass isn't the worst I've heard, but a new set of strings there is probably a good call. I haven't yet checked the bridge pins, but it's riddled with false beats throughout, so I'm thinking of loose bridge pins and poor termination points. The downbearing is fine and the board and pinblock are fine as well....for it's age and vintage. Typically, when I restring, I replace bridge pins as well as agraffes and tuning pins. Do you go this far? not as much? farther? I'm not in any hurry on this one as I put a "loaner" grand in the classroom for fall semester. Thanks for any input. Best, Paul T. Williams RPT Univ. of Nebraska Lincoln, NE -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut.php/attachments/20100803/4edb3451/attachment.htm>
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