String replacement under overstrung area

[David Nereson]

-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org
[mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org]On Behalf Of Michelle Smith
Sent: Monday, July 10, 2006 2:21 PM
To: 'Pianotech List'
Subject: String replacement under overstrung area

Hi everyone.  I was tuning my mom's ancient upright (1908) and
of course a string broke.  Even worse, it was D#4 and in the
area where the strings overlap.  While this was great stringing
practice, I have to believe there's a trick to getting the
string where it needs to go (and stay there) without hours of
heartache and assistance from my dad!  I felt like I was
torturing this poor old piano.  Any words of wisdom?

Michelle Smith
Bastrop, Texas

There are several devices to aid in this task, but it's still a
pain.  Measure and cut the wire first and make the bend for the
hitch pin.  Then you can use any of the following devices for
feeding the loop under the bass strings and down to the hitch
pin:  the dowel with a slot in the end (has to be pretty thin
diameter);  a flattened curtain rod (the kind whose cross
section is an elongated 'C'; a thin slat of wood with two
parallel lengths of thin tubing epoxied to it; some claim they'
ve used a paper clip (clip the loop to the remaining string or
an adjacent unison), and there's another device made by Will
Leverett ( wmlsml68 at earthlink.net
<mailto:wmlsml68 at earthlink.net> ) that's sort of a "shoe" or
"skate" that guides the string under the bass strings.  Once you
've got the loop over the hitch pin, clamp it with hemostats or
small vise-grips, then slip off the device, get the wires under
the pressure bar (a piece of curved thin tubing sometimes helps
here), and do the rest like replacing any other string.
            It's a pain, and doesn't happen often enough for us
to get a lot of practice at it.  Patience is key.
            --David Nereson, RPT


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