David, I like Les Smith's advice about replacing several strings. Be sure terminations are clean at both ends. I don't think you'll hear much difference in the tenor, but if there's poor sustain there, it's worth a try, because if I heard poor sustain there, I'd definitely suspect the terminations. I'd start higher up before I went to the effort of removing (and saving) an agraffed string. I'd be more eager to hear something around A5 and something around C7 or D7. You can indeed tell about the sustain by plucking, but I'd actually file a hammer or even put in a known good one, to hear if there is any power near the top. With a flattish board I would be looking (listening and measuring) for bridge roll, which can kill the power. I'm one of those (also from California) who has heard a reasonably flat board sound great. Because of the mild and constant climate in your area, if the board showed no signs of stress (cracks, a lot of compression stress) I would offer the customer the option of leaving the board. If the piano sounds good now, what is his likely risk? A set of strings (and maybe a pinblock) maybe fifteen or twenty years down the road, when he is forced into a soundboard, versus the known thousands of $$ of the present cost of a board. Some clients consider this a good risk, and I often do too. I would maake sure I was satisfied with the present sound of the samples, though, and I would offer this discussion and option IN WRITING. Bob Davis
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