Hamburg D breaking strings?

[Avery Todd]

Richard,

>One.  Do you have a "pounding" tuner?

   Sort of. I don't particularly pound while tuning but I do give
pretty firm test blows.

>Two.  How many times have the strings been "leveled"?

   Since the top two sections were restrung, only at that time and
when I filed the hammers this past fall.

>Three.   How many other Hamburg D's of this vintage have excessive
>breakage?

   This is the only Hamburg we have here.

>Or.   Since the two top sections have been restrung has there been
>any more breakage.  If so go back to One. If no to one and two, how
>much "dope" in the hammers?  What about the Capo bar?

   Yes, I've had several break this past semester. If I remember
correctly, ALL of the breakage has been at the the capo bar, none at
the tuning pin which, to me, primarily indicates breakage because of
wear/stress.
   The hammers are Renner, from Germany, and nothing has been added
to them since installation. Remember though, this instrument is a
very high usage piano. It's our primary recital hall instrument and
I tune it before almost every recital. The piano teachers here (5)
are allowed to have two studio classes in the hall each month. Other
teachers are allowed one a month. Plus it is used for choir rehearsal,
recital practices, competitions, outside groups who rent our facilities
(piano and music teachers groups), plus any outside artists who are
brought in to perform. Our NY 'D' is also used of course, but primarily,
it's the Hamburg.
   I would "guestimate" that it probably gets 3 "normal" years worth
of wear in only one year. Maybe more.

>RM
>ps with all of the notebook tuning programs, is it possible to get a
>wav of some of the notes of this D?

   Not with what I have available here.

>>    In relation to this, could I have some input on the necessity of
>> restringing our Hamburg D recital hall piano. It's now about 14 years
>>old, and only the top two sections have been restrung (because of
>>excessive breakage). I feel that it is past time to restring the piano
>>to bring it back to it's fullest capabilities. This has been our
>>primary performance instrument ever since before I came here.

   I hope this answers some of your questions. Thanks.

Avery

_____________________________________
Avery Todd
Moores School of Music
University of Houston
Houston, TX 77204-4893
713-743-3226
atodd@uh.edu
http://www.uh.edu/music/
_____________________________________