Putting bass strings back on

[Dave Nereson]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve Borgstrom" <orchman@attbi.com>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Friday, March 07, 2003 7:18 PM
Subject: Putting bass strings back on


> I repaired a crack in the bass bridge apron on the piano shaped object 
> I currently own. 1st one ever for me, went ok with a little help from 
> an RPT friend (my teacher). Was able to do it only removing 8 strings, 
> whooo hooo!
> 
> My buddy left, I left the piano on the tilter overnight to dry. Put the 
> strings back on and remembered seeing somewhere that you are supposed 
> to twist the bass strings to keep the copper from rattling. I went 1 & 
> 1/2 twists on each string and got it back together, put the action back 
> in and started in tuning.
> 
> Got to the three lowest strings I had removed, F#1, G1 and Ab1. Tried 
> to bring them up to pitch and they sounded awful, muffled, just what I 
> thought the twisting was supposed to eliminate. Well, I loosened them, 
> took them off, let them go where they wanted to, metal memory speaking, 
> and reattached them. Tuned them up and they sounded just like the other 
> strings around them.
> 
> My question is, what is this phenomenon? What causes it and how does 
> one know how much if any twist to put in when putting them on the hitch 
> pins?
> 
> Thanks all!
> 
> 
> Steve Borgstrom
> Brooklyn Park, MN
> 
> _______________________________________________
> pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives

    I think too much twist (more than one turn, especially on the thicker strings) can maybe deaden them.  I've had buzzing strings that, upon removing, already had a whole turn on them.  Adding another 1/2 turn would get rid of the buzz, but the string would lose its vibrancy.  But sometimes adding more twist doesn't have any effect on the buzz.  Then you just replace the string.   
    Sometimes a tubby-sounding bass string will "liven up" by loosening it, unhooking the hitch pin end and putting a large, loose overhand "knot", or loop, in the string and working it up and down the string once or twice (to loosen dirt between the windings), then hitch it back on and kinda "snap it up to pitch" (not so overzealously as to break it). 
    As for the physics and acoustics, I don't really know, but maybe too much twist adds a stiffness that keeps certain types of waves (longitudinal?) or partials from sounding.  Some factories put no twist at all in the bass strings.  
    --Dave Nereson, RPT, Denver