Breaking strings...

[Brian L. Daley]

-----Original Message-----
From: Phil Ryan <pryan2@bellsouth.net>
To: pianotech@ptg.org <pianotech@ptg.org>
Date: Thursday, July 02, 1998 9:37 PM
Subject: Breaking strings...


>Dear List,
>
>I'm a newbie at tuning and ran across this situation- I was tuning an
>old (1920's) Edward Mason grand with the original strings. A quarter of
>the way through, pop! broke a treble string. No problem, I need the
>practice installing strings.Then pop!, another one.
>Pop...pop...pop...all the way up to ten broken treble strings, five or
>six notes apart, before I quit.  Yes, I used liquid wrench on the vbar
>and agraffes.  My question is-  how many strings should one break before
>declaring the piano untunable and in need of a restringing or
>rebuilding.  The owner is only interested in having it "tuned."  Any
>advice?
>
>Phil Ryan
>Associate, PTG
>pryan2@bellsouth.net
>
>Phil,
        First of all, were you performing any significant pitch change?  Do
the strings have alot of rust and scale?  I'd imagine they probably do, but
you never know.  Obviously with too much rust, strings can't handle the
tension anymore as it weakens the wire.  If it's been a long time since the
piano was tuned last and there is rust and scale, and if you were pitch
altering (I'd guess) from more than -25c, no surprise on breaking strings.
It probably couldn't take the change.  I have read some arguments about wire
losing it's tensile strength after a number of years.  I'm no expert on
this, but if the wire is not corroded, maybe that's a factor involved here.
In either case, it sounds like the piano is in dire need of at least
restringing.    What if the bass strings start to go too, or have they?
Explain the expense of individual bass string replacement to your customer
as well as the cost of service calls to come and replace strings on an
increasingly frequent basis.
      I have a customer with very similar circumstances.  He has an old
Gulbransen grand with brown treble strings, and black & green bass strings.
There condition is that of tools you might find when you open up an age old
toolbox that's been sitting alone in a dank corner of a periodically flooded
basement for years  He loves his piano and does not want it restrung no
matter what I say.  So because no bass strings have broken yet, and only a
handful of treble strings break when it's tuned, that's o.k.  (???)   Some
people just want what they want. end.  Or, perhaps they just don't have the
resources at the time.  You do what you can.
    As far as using liquid wrench on the vbar and agraffes: probably not a
good idea.  There's more than a good chance that it will eventually creep up
the strings finding its way into the block.  If strings break at the vbar,
try using a small fine machine file to smooth out any burrs before
installing new ones.  Same with the agraffes:  use a piece of piano wire or
abrasive cord to floss the holes.
    I'd try to sell a restringing job though.

Brian Daley
tunerselbow@earthlink.net