Steve, You need not lower the tension of the long bridge. Think about it. All the plain wire, on the long bridge, are already on, before the bass stings are put on. The plain wire has tension on it to maintain the coils, etc. I've been taking bass strings off, for over 30 years, without lowering the tension of the rest of the piano and have never had a problem. There is one piano that will cause problems: The Rippen. If you start lowering the bass strings, the top treble strings will begin to break!!!! Ask Del about that one. <G> I have only run into one other piano that had that same problem and it was a weird German upright. The clue is, most times, if it is a piano w/o back posts and has a full peripheral plate, that might cause some problems. Oh, when taking bass strings off of a Yamama GH-1 you will experience a rise in the general pitch, but it goes right back, after the strings are re-installed. Reason: No beams on that particular model, (early versions of the more recent models). Best Regards, Joe Garrett, RPT, (Oregon) Been There, Didn't Like It, So I'm Here To Stay! [G}
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