---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment I'm surprised at how much tension it takes to break a piano string, even a russty one. In the last week, I've worked on two pianos that were 100 cents or more flat, and in each case, there was substantial rust on the strings. The first was a "petite" Kimball that had taken a circuitous route to CA from Florida, stopping for storage along the way. I should have turned the job down, but it was "mom's" piano(mom had pased away not long ago), and the new owner just wanted it to play "a little bit". I said I'd do it, but that she needed to keep her expectations low. In retrospect, and after seeing where and how she lives, I should have made other recommendations, but the "sentimental value" part always gets me. After cleaning it inside and out, filing crust from the hammers, and doing a few minor repairs, I set about trying to get it to pitch. I might have considered tuning it "where it was" but it was so all-over-the-map pitchwise, that I decided to crank it up to 440. There was plenty of rust on strings and pins, so I was a bit worried about string breakage. As I began to yank up the bass, the tone improved vastly. No string breakage until the very high treble, and then it was only 1 string. It took more time than any pitch adjustment I've ever done. Monday of this week, I went in to my son's pre-school to tune an old Chickering console(Aeolian product) that had been donated by a staff member. Opened up the case, cleaned out spiders and their domiciles, dusted and vacuumed inside, got all the notes "working", and set about crankin' her up. 100 cents flat, rust on strings and pins. "Oh well, they've gotta know what the piano is SUPPOSED to sound like AT PITCH," I told myself, donning my safety glasses and goose-juicing all the bearing points. Same deal. Zero breakage this time, though. By the time I got through the third pass of the treble, it sounded okay. I was quite surprised to get through those two pianos virtually unscathed. Don't know that I would have tried Michael Gambles' technique on either of these, though... Thanks for reading, Dave Stahl ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/7d/3a/46/65/attachment.htm ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC