String breakage in Seiler and Bechstein pianos

[Michael Gamble]

Hello Ed and List
This is very interesting - the Steinway not breaking strings - presumably 
under the same conditions of playing as the Bechstein and the Yam C-2's. You 
restrung the S&S with "Mapes" wire? Please tell me - is Mapes anything like 
Roslau "blue" (polished)? The scaling in the S&S is noted on the bridge. Did 
you stick to this scaling in your restring? When you restrung the S&S did 
you stick to faithful copies of the old Bass strings ? Or did you analyse 
the scaling as suggested by Joe Garrett <G>. and employ a new bass scaling 
accordingly? I look forward to your reply to this as I'm about to restring 
an S&S "D" and an "A".
Enough questions for now from a Downland Village in Sunny Sussex - but this 
is May Bank Holiday week-end and school half term so we're just off for a 
week to our holiday cottage overlooking the North Sea in Norfolk (UK!)
Michael G.(UK)
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <A440A@aol.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Friday, May 27, 2005 11:25 PM
Subject: Re: String breakage in Seiler pianos


> Andre writes:
>
> << Strings usually break because of a malfunction in the action.  A badly
> regulated action causes a pianist to use excessive energy, and a flattened 
> and
> hardened hammer makes it worse.  If you very carefully (and with love) 
> file the
> worn hammers without
>
> taking off too much, and you then make a beautiful regulation, you will
>
> notice that less strings will break.
>
>    This hasn't been my experience!  I think strings usually break because 
> of
> metal fatigue, which is the result of repeatedly reaching their plastic
> deformation limit.  This may be a problem with scaling, (% of elastic 
> limit), or
> simply being hit very hard.   I haven't noticed the hammers playing too 
> much of
> a part in it.  Cases in point:
>
>    We have a Bechstein at the school that breaks a lot of strings.  The
> pianist is a large feller and plays a lot of Rachmaninoff.  I originally 
> thought
> it was because the hammers were hard.  After installing new hammers, 
> (Renner
> Blues), careful regulation,  and voicing it down to a mellowness of some 
> degree,
> the strings continued to break with uninterrupted frequency, (no pun
> intended).  So, I restrung the top two sections.  The strings continued to 
> break at
> the same rate!
>    We have two new Yamaha C2's  in the same room.  One of them is mellower
> than the other, and gets more play.  It breaks strings with regularity 
> under
> the hands of some of the more energetic students.
>    We have a very bright Steinway D that is played constantly. I restrung 
> it
> in 1984 with Mapes wire.  It has never broken a string (20 years and 
> several
> sets of hammers).
>    All in all, I think the breakage is more due to the use or the scaling
> than the hammer's or regulation's condition.  I have a number of other 
> examples
> where strings in pianos with flat hammers don't break as often as some of
> their counterparts.
>    One sure-fire way to break strings is to repeatedly play very fast
> repetitions at FFF.  I think the impact occuring while the string is still
> oscillating from a previous blow may be the culprit, and I think hitting 
> them very hard
> with the pedal down exacerbates the problem.
> Regards,
>
> Ed Foote RPT
> http://www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/index.html
> www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html
>
>