In a message dated 7/11/2006 3:58:11 PM Pacific Daylight Time, michelle at cdaustin.com writes: Concerning loosening the bass strings to get them out of the way, would this be a problem on an old piano such as the one I worked on? The strings are ancient and I don’t even want to breathe on them if I don’t have to. Amen Michelle, and if you go prepared, you shouldn't have to. Once your kind assistant has made your string-getter-behinder, a few extra props will make it all work. Someone suggested a Vise-Grip for holding the string on the hitch pin - the hardware store should have one with a pointy nose, which is worth the price on one job. Also, once the string is on the hitch, it can be a little tricky weaving it onto the bridge. You just need a string hook to pull up over the bridge pins, and a hammer shank to push down on the string above (or below) the bridge while you are lifting over the second bridge pin. You can do the upper or lower bridge pin first, whichever gives you more maneuvering between bass strings. If you use the dummy-pin method, you will only be turning the pin out 1 turn max, and if you muff it, you can do it again without tearing up the block. Finally, if one of the tuning pins is very close to the pressure bar, you may want to put the wire onto the hitch pin, measure and cut your string (both sides), remove the string from the hitch while keeping it from straying too far with the Vise-Grips, make the first coil & install it on the pin closest to the pressure bar, put the string back on the hitch & bridge, then make the second coil. Good luck, Bob Davis, RPT, UT grad (Mus. '68) Stockton, CA -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20060712/5e4f9ac2/attachment.html
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