Breaking strings - Was: tough work

[Mike Kurta]

    Hi Clyde:
    Yes, 20 guage wire will work on A0.  The original core wire is heavy on
that string not for strength, but for mass.  The tension is low on A0, so
you will have no problem.  In the area of single bass strings, especially on
small pianos, universal strings are helpful to carry with you. On better
pianos or on bichords, they probably will not sound or tune very well,  but
again, they have their place.   They allow immediate replacement when
needed, saving ordering and a trip back.  My rule is, if I break 3 strings
on any piano in a particular section, I stop; give the customer a choice of
1. tuning to a lower pitch throughout, or 2. bite the bullet and replace all
strings in that section with new.  To continue down the road of broken
strings without knowing what the outcome will be is counter-productive.
Hope this helps.....
    Mike Kurta
----- Original Message -----
From: "Clyde Hollinger" <cedel@supernet.com>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Sunday, March 23, 2003 7:02 AM
Subject: Breaking strings - Was: tough work


> Friends,
>
> I ran into a new situation a couple days ago, when I let down the tension
of
> all the bass strings of a 1972 Baldwin finger-rail Acrosonic spinet to
reglue
> the bridge cap to the bridge.  Three of the double-wound bass strings
broke off
> at the becket.  Two of them I could repair, although it is difficult to
work
> with the very fat core wire of those lowest strings!
>
> The third string broke a second time, this time where the coil started.
Since
> all of this string trouble was totally unexpected, I was way over my
estimate
> by now and very weary, too, so I just brought this one string home until I
> decide whether I should try splicing it or just buy a new replacement.
>
> Question for those who read this far:  Is #20 wire heavy enough to hold
the
> tension for the A#0 string for this piano?  I don't have any wire as thick
as
> this core wire, and I thought maybe the core is so thick, not because it
has to
> be for strength, but because it has to be like that for acoustic reasons.
Can
> you help me on this?
>
> I have also found situations that match Susan's, most recently in a 1980
> Whitner spinet.  In 1998 I did a 100c pitchraise and tune, no problem.
Then in
> 1999 the C6 string tore, which I repaired, and in 2000 the B5-C6 string
tore,
> which I also repaired.  A year later the same string tore again!  So I
replaced
> with new wire all three strings for B5 and C6.  There was no additional
problem
> with the most recent tuning, although I'm always wary when tuning that
area,
> since there may be other strings of the same size.
>
> BTW, since I guarantee my work for some reasonable length of time, I gave
> credit on the two first string repairs toward the cost of replacing the
> strings.
>
> Regards,
> Clyde
>
> Susan Kline wrote:
>
> > At 08:48 PM 3/20/2003 -0500, you wrote:
> > >tuned a couple of notes,and bamm,a broken string.A few more
notes,another
> > >broken string,and another.I let the pitch down first,even used a
lubricate
> > >around the hitch pins,and on the coils.I have never felt a string
respond
> > >in this manner,as,I would let the pitch down,and it would go down
> > >smooth.But as soon as I tried to bring it back up,it wouldn't budge,and
if
> > >it did,bamm.Even a half step low,it still would not come back
> > >smoothly,also this was in the low bass only.Has anyone ever run across
> > >anything like this.
> >
> > I had only one this bad -- a previous tuner had broken three bass
strings
> > (and TOOK THEM AWAY but didn't replace them!!!
> > grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr) and about five treble strings. It was an
> > Acrosonic, and I'd never seen such breakage on one. Investigating, I
found
> > that it had been made in 1943. All the broken treble strings were the
same
> > size of wire. I brought it to pitch, and replaced ALL the treble wire of
> > the breaking size, measured for and replaced the missing bass strings,
> > broke two more, replaced them, tuned, retuned.
> >
> > What a pain. My feeling was that the wire during the war was bad -- in
the
> > treble, they had been able to use some old good stock, but had had to
buy
> > that one size new. All the core wire in the bass seems to have been bad.
> >
> > Susan Kline
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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>
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