Bose Imperial Bass Strings

[David Love]

I find paper patterns to be unreliable.  I prefer to measure each string,
hitch pin to front bridge pin (on the speaking side), and hitch pin to
agraffe (the difference is the speaking length).  Measurements in
millimeters will be the most accurate and easy to work with.  That gives
the string winder (or scaler) specific information from which to work.  I
have been using Walter Schienke at JD Grandt Co., for several sets of
strings now.  His work has been very reliable and consistent.  He is also
very accommodating, turns around orders very quickly and is a pleasure to
work with (prices are also very reasonable).  Trusting string makers who
say they have the scale is dangerous.  Speaking lengths can vary on similar
models from piano to piano.  As I am now having the scale of every piano I
restring recalculated, I am becoming more and more aware of how much
variation there is.  

David Love
davidlovepianos@earthlink.net


----- Original Message ----- 
From: Paul McCloud 
To: Pianotech
Sent: 6/7/2003 8:52:58 AM 
Subject: Bose Imperial Bass Strings


Friends:
            I have a Bosendorfer Imperial 9’ grand that has been restrung. 
The bass string replacement sets I’ve gotten from the string company
haven’t been satisfactory, and I’m wondering what to do about it.  Here’s
the history.
            The first set was made by a company in Canada (won’t name) who
was recommended by our associate store’s technician.  (The piano is for
sale at the store where I work).  I sent the original strings for them to
duplicate.  They were very conscientious about making them exactly the same
as the old ones.  It seems that the old strings had windings VERY close to
the bridge pins.  Since we (at the store) were concerned about some local
tech finding this and badmouthing the piano (and possibility of buzzing on
the bridge pins) we decided to reorder the strings and make the windings
end farther from the bridge.  I spoke to the winder, and he suggested
sending a pattern, which I did.  Now, they had the old strings and the
pattern to work with.  The new strings arrived, and were installed. 
Several of the strings had windings that came extremely close to the
agraffes, many less than ¼”.  Some were almost touching.  When I called to
complain, they said I had made the pattern wrong.  Ok, maybe so.  But,
thankfully, he was willing to remake about half a dozen of the closest
ones, at no charge.  They were satisfactory, but after installing a couple,
I realized that the rest of the strings were stretching (it took a few
months before I installed the new replacements).  The other strings had
stretched so much, the windings on them also came very close to the
agraffes.  At this point, I decided to go to another string company (U.S.
maker) who said he had the string scale already (36 string bass scale).  I
ordered the full set, and they arrived a few days ago.  I found that this
set was exactly like the original set the Canadian company had made, with
the windings so close to the bridge pins, and the windings near the
agraffes.  I didn’t install the strings, actually, but I could see that
they were too long, and would have come too close to the agraffes when
pulled to pitch.
            At this point, I don’t know if I should expect the American
string company to take back the strings.  It’s not their fault,
necessarily, nor is it mine, since they assured me that they had made lots
of these and had no complaints. 
I’m inclined to use a tape to measure the distances from hitch pin (I got
one of those special tape measures at a convention), and have custom
strings made from the actual numbers.  But, I’m not a rebuilder, nor do I
have much experience with these Bosies, so any suggestions y’all might have
would be gratefully appreciated.  
Thanks,
            Paul McCloud
            San Diego