I Raise the pitch...on the pitch raise.

[Joel Rappaport]

Norm,
Where the string leaves the tuning pin is, IMO, one of the two weak
spots where treble strings, for example, usually break.  (The other is
under the capo.)  It might help if we looked at it going the other way.
That is, as the string _approaches_ the tuning pin, then starts to wind
around it.  One side of the wire will be compressed, the other
stretched.  Of course, the same thing happens at the becket and that
doesn't normally break, although it has been known to happen.  Maybe
because at the point near the tuning pin, the string is flexed through
years of tuning.  This fits with the same weakness in the area under the
capo which is flexed during tuning and playing.

In general, regarding the subject of this thread, I think it is only the
deterioration of the wire from corrosion that leads to the breakage.
Others have described very well "breaking" the corrosion with some
lowering of the pitch before adding tension.  In a piano with new
strings (no dirt or corrosion), I think it is a destabilizing mistake to
first lower the tension if you are on your way up with the pitch.

Joel Rappaport
Round Rock, Texas

barre41 wrote:
>
> It is kind of a mystery to me and interesting that if a string breaks
> while tuning, it is usually at the point that the string leaves the
> tuning pin. This suggests that it is caused somehow by technique and I
> khow that lowering the tension first reduces the breakage. I have been
> told that it is caused by a seal formed where the string leaves the pin
> but if that is the case, how does this create the stress to break the
> string when you pull it up?
>
> Norm Barrett