It takes next to nothing to kill a set of strings and spraying them is a hugh something. Having the strings duplicated will compound the errors in scaling and making the originals and errors in duplication. I would suggest searching the archives for posts on cleaning strings (within the last few weeks), make a paper pattern of the current strings which shows length and tail data and have the strings rescaled. Normally rescaling can make the piano sound a foot longer than it actually is because tension, inharmonicity, breaking point and volume are balanced to provide more optimum tone. A little bit more cost but huge returns. If you are going to use current pins (I doubt I would) then you should practice a on a real piece of junk before attempting to do so with new and expensive bass strings. Tighten all the plate bolts and screws you can get to before removing the bass strings. There is practically no danger of damage to the plate unless you use a sledge hammer to make it ring. You can tap the pins down after the coils are tight, level and strings up to pitch. If the coils are 1/8" off the plate now you can maintain that height. If they are higher you can drive them down after stringing but you will need to support the block with a jack before driving them down. Have you checked the block condition? If the piano were completely refinished, case, soundboard and plate with rescaling the selling price would be near twice the cost of such work. Doing half jobs makes for half the income. If the piano is worth doing it is worth doing right. More paint on the board is likely to have no effect on tone unless it is 1/4" thick. Lots of luck. Newton
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