Piano Firing Missiles at Church Congregation

[Greg Newell]

---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment
List,
    All of you have some very good suggestions to make regarding the
reoccurrence of breaking strings in "spirit filled churches" or other
venues where this exists. No one yet has mentioned what i consider to be
the best all around and fool proof way of just about guaranteeing no
future breakage. Do you want to know what it is?  C' mon, ya gotta ask
real nice now. O.K. I'll tell you. Convince the owner/pastor/ manager or
whoever is in charge to have the piano player pay for the strings they
break! I'll bet you won't see too many after that!!!

Greg

jolly roger wrote:

>  Hi Bill,
>            The problem is probably the player riding the damper pedal,
> which you have little chance of correcting.  Suggesting that it's her
> playing will only inflame her.
> Get Al Sanderson, Danny at GC Strings to rescale to cope with the
> problem. restring the bass.
> YC Strings are nothing to write home about, so it would significantly
> improve the piano.
> When you restring carefull inspect both the state of the bridge pins
> and the notching.
> Roger
>
>
> At 12:12 PM 1/27/01 -0500, you wrote:
>
>> List,
>>
>> Yes, it's true and I need some opinions on what to do about it.  It
>> is a
>> Young Chang Grand model G-185, only a few years old.  It is
>> meticulously
>> cared for but early in it's service, the pianist at this, shall we
>> say,
>> "spirit filled" church complained of bass strings breaking and
>> shooting out
>> of the piano.
>>
>> I have tried all of the usual.  I filed the hammers.  A monitor
>> feeds back
>> sound to the pianist.  When I explained to the church directors that
>> it is
>> the "vigorous" style of playing that sometimes causes strings to
>> break, the
>> pianist resigned.  Things were OK for a while but now there is a
>> young lady
>> who is firing scuds at the congregation faster than I can get there
>> to
>> collect them, get them duplicated and replace them.
>>
>> She is quite upset and beside herself.  She refuses to believe that
>> it is the
>> *way* the piano is played that is causing this.  She claims that she
>> has
>> played the piano "all her life" and has never seen or even heard of
>> this
>> happening.  The piano has a string cover which she yanks out and
>> throws in
>> the corner.  She also says she has never played a piano with a
>> "blanket" in
>> it and just "couldn't" play with it in there.  I have firmly
>> insisted that at
>> this point, it is a matter of public safety and won't have any
>> effect on the
>> sound.
>>
>> I am thinking that these wound strings must have particularly high
>> tension.
>> Does anyone know if this is so?  Over the years I have heard of
>> other such
>> instances that were cured by replacing the wound strings with a set
>> of
>> lighter gauged, "happy" strings.  It would seem to me that a lower
>> tension
>> would solve the problem but in reading the recent post about
>> "replacement
>> strings", I am confused.  Some of these strings have been breaking
>> at the
>> bass bridge termination point rather than the agraffe.  That seems
>> very
>> unusual to me.
>>
>> Should the manufacturer supply a new set of wound strings and if so,
>> should
>> they be a set designed for lower tension?  I presume that heavier
>> gauged,
>> higher tension strings provide a bigger, bolder sound.  What effect
>> would
>> lower tension have?  Just as a theoretical question, would tuning
>> the
>> instrument to a lower pitch, say 100 cents lower prevent this from
>> happening
>> (with the same gauge but a *new* set of strings)?  (I do not view
>> this as an
>> option, just a possibility that might work in some other
>> circumstance).  (I
>> also would not even consider altering the regulation to deliberately
>> produce
>> less power).
>>
>> It is also interesting to note that to date, only wound strings have
>> broken,
>> no plain wire.
>>
>> Bill Bremmer RPT
>> Madison, Wisconsin
>
>
>

--
Greg Newell
Greg's Piano Fort=E9
19270 Harlon Ave.
Lakewood, Ohio 44107
216-226-3791
mailto:gnewell@ameritech.net


---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/52/75/f7/6f/attachment.htm

---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--