Replacing strings

[DGPEAKE@AOL.COM]

This is a very good reason to rescale the piano. Iron wound strings are 
different in respect for tension. If you only send them to the stringmaker 
for replacement, you may get the same diameters in copper, but the tension 
will change, therefore the scaling as well.

Calulating the scale is quite complex and I suggest you contact a rebuilder 
that will rescale the piano. You will be quite pleased as a result.

Dave Peake, RPT
Portland Chapter
Oregon City, OR
www.davespianoworks.locality.com


In a message dated 09/08/2000 1:37:58 AM Pacific Daylight Time, dnu@fx.ro 
writes:

<< 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!
 
 ______________________ >>