Replacing strings

[Farrell]

You have a world class instrument. I highly recommend either having a
competent professional do this work (I know you won't because you have the
bug - that's OK - but I had to say this anyway - or else I would get FLAMED
big-time) or try to find someone locally that would be willing to work a
little bit with you - advice, maybe a few of the trickier things - there are
many things to consider that you may not even be aware to ask about, such as
(if you are restringing) what is the condition of the soundboard (I have a
6-foot Bechstein of my own that LOOKs good, but upon VERY close examination
one sees that the bridges are rolled and the uncracked soundboard (that
visually looks great) is "S" shaped in cross section (going from the
bass-forward corner, across the bridges, to the curved side - this piano
ABSOLUTELY needs a new soundboard), what kind of downbearing do you have
(front and rear), what is the state of the bridge pins (if you can pull them
out, they are too loose), what about the bridge top (even if the bridges are
in good condition, resurfacing the top and renotching and epoxying new pins
(or oversize pins) is highly recommended, think about replacing agraffes,
etc.

Contact David Sanderson at Sanderson AccuString (or one of a very few other
top string makers). Address:410 Great Rd., Littleton, MA  01460. Phone:
(978) 486-0694. He does VERY top notch rescaling and bass string making.

Do you have a real good book or some other resource to guide you in your
work? I truely want to encourage you, and I think it is great when someone
dives into projects like you do. Often however, the results are VERY poor,
or worse. I hope you are not among those. The best of luck to you!

Terry Farrell
Piano Tuning & Service
Tampa, Florida
mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Calin Tantareanu" <dnu@fx.ro>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Friday, September 08, 2000 4:18 AM
Subject: Replacing strings


> Hello everyone,
>
> I'm new to this list, and I should first say that I'm not a piano
> technician.
> This is my problem: I want to change the bass strings on my piano, but the
> original ones are wound with iron or steel, not with copper.
> So my question is, would copper-wound replacement strings need to have the
> same diameters or different ones? Since copper has a different weight from
> iron, different diameters could be needed.
> How could the new strings be calculated?
>
> The piano is a 2 meter long Bechstein, probably from 1887 (serial. nr.
> 18700). You can see some pictures of it on my website.
>
> Thanks you!
>
> __________________________
> Calin Tantareanu
> http://calintantareanu.tripod.com
> __________________________
>
>
>
>