Prevention of broken becketts

[Martin Wisenbaker]

Some short time ago someone was asking about how not to break becketts. I
think I can offer a solution. Yesterday I worked most of the day on a
Schumann little baby grand that was built by Kimball in 1988. All the
bass strings sounded like the steel wound strings on pianos built prior
to WWI. I took them one at a time loose from the hitch pin, whipped and
twisted them put them back on and brought them back up to pitch. The
transformation was dramatic. These two operations on each string gave
them a brilliance that they did not likely have originally. My customer's
wife is a concert pianist and she was impressed with the change. My
customer is a geo physicist who works for a large international oil
company. After two becketts broke he suggested that I let him pull up on
the string while I loosened the tuning pin (1 1/2 turns). No more
becketts broke. He pulled the strings out from under the damper and kept
an up pressure on the string until I had backed the pin out the 1 1/2
turns. This kept the beckett in more of a relaxed condition/position so
that it did not break. This is an oriental couple who welcomed me into
their home and stayed right with me all the time I was there. They
allowed me to use their bath room as many times as I needed to do so.
Even though I had made and brought my own lunch with me they insisted
that I eat lunch with them. She made and served sushi rolls with soup and
green tea. The table was set for orientals, chop sticks and no
silverware. I surprised them, though, when I picked up my chop sticks and
used them almost as well as they were doing. I learned to use chop sticks
when I was stationed in Hawaii in the U. S. Air Force in the 1950's. I
raised the pitch on the piano going over the bass strings more than the
rest. I will be doing the fine tuning in January.  I left them a happy
couple. 

Martin Wisenbaker, RPT
Houston, Texas