universal bass string deadness

[Dave Nereson]

----- Original Message -----
From: <Bigeartb@AOL.COM>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Sunday, December 23, 2001 9:49 PM
Subject: universal bass string deadness


> Dear List:
> I decided years ago that installing universal bass strings on instruments
was
> like trying to pass a bicycle for a Cadillac. If a piano needs a wrapped
bass
> string, I order a new string to the old string specifications. If one
breaks
> on a double, I then order two new strings....and the same for a tri-chord.
I
> have given the customer the very best possible....Universal strings are
just
> that....they don't properly fit any piano without cutting the copper wrap
and
> then they don't produce good tone quality. Why do a half way job when you
can
> do the job to the best of your ability?
>
> Tommy Black
> Birmingham, Ala chapter

Depends on the piano, the owner, how much time I've got before my next
appointment, and whether the owner has somewhere to go as soon as I finish,
whether or not the note is still being damped well enough for the time
being, whether a custom-made string will sound that much better and be worth
the extra money, waiting 10 days or more to get it, the return trip to put
it on, whether the owner's willing to pay for a custom string or two, and,
in the case of schools and churches, whether or not it's in the budget.
Sometimes the "half-way" job is what you're forced to settle on, and, in
many pianos, including some small grands, the universal string  (if the
correct gauge is chosen,  the winding is not unwrapped too far from the ends
of the speaking length,  the ends of the wrap are tightened around the core
wire, and the string is perhaps given a half-twist and seated on the bridge)
will be satisfactory in many cases.
    Besides, when a bass string breaks right before a recital or program,
what're you supposed to do:  just leave that note with one string, sounding
weaker than its neighbors and not damping?
   << they don't properly fit any piano without cutting the copper wrap>>
        They're designed with longer-than-needed copper wrap so that it can
be unwound to the correct length!
    <<they don't produce good tone quality>>   Yeah, many times they don't;
but not always.  If the universal doesn't sound any good, then I tell the
customer I can order custom strings.  But at least I had a temporary fix so
they weren't left with a non-damping bass note, or in the case of the lowest
10 strings, no note at all!   And, I've had so-called custom-made strings,
including those from Schaff, that don't sound that great, either!
    As for leaving mutes in strings, the rubber ones anyway,  I don't like
the idea since I see them pop out with just a few test blows, never mind a
few days' playing.  I just tell the customer I'll have to stop by in a few
days to touch-up the new string, then again in a couple weeks, and maybe
again in couple months.  The average owner just lets it go until the next
tuning, except for piano teachers and semi-pro types.    --David Nereson,
RPT, Denver