String breakage (was Re: I Raise the pitch...)

[Tunapiana@aol.com]

I have followed this thread for a while and have to say that tuning the
string slightly flat first before pulling it up to pitch is definitely not a
waste of time and NOT an "old wives tale" !  I have been tuning for 24 years
now and have run into the typical "old rusty wire" type instruments of all
kinds, grands and verticals, and have found this technique has worked on the
vast majority of times when a pitch raise or even a regular tuning would
produce broken strings. A few times I have run across pianos that in no way
appeared to be a candidate for string breakage and yet strings broke anyway.
However, I found that when I took the time to test the procedure first
(tuning slightly flat until a "tick" sound is heard) I have found this has
saved me a lot of grief!
If after testing a few in this manner and I don't get any "ticking" sound I
procede normally. It is important to let the customer know BEFORE-HAND that
string breakage may occur and that it is not the technicians fault (although
there always is the RARE occasion when in a hurry we pull up a unison and not
hearing a change in pitch continue to pull and then AFTER the string breaks
we realize we were turning the wrong pin...I have and hopefully not all have
learned this lesson the hard way!)
Anyway-the procedure DOES work-give it a try and save youself some
headaches...

Greg Torres, Technician
Niceville, Fl
tunapiana@aol.com