Pitch Raise (and string breakage)

[John Dorr]

Hi all,

I do a LOT of pitch raises.  I like the idea of lowering pitch first when 
strings are rusty and/or scary.  Another little preparation that I like is to 
apply a little "Goose Juice" through the pressure bar area and through the 
felt areas if there is rust evident there.  It seems to help the "follow" 
properties of the string, making it render through those areas more smoothly.

I HATE breaking strings, so every and any bit of prevention is worth it to me. 
 Even though I charge for replacing them, I can't really charge enough.  The 
new string will almost always go flat on me and may make me seem an 
incompetent oaf, even though I explain it and encourage them to call me out 
for touch-ups, no charge.

If it's an OUTSIDE string of a tri-chord, I like to leave it muted(and the 
adjacent outside string, necessarily)and tell the customer that I've done so. 
 I explain that I'll tune it when I return and it will be more stabile.

If I need to leave it open, unmuted, I try to tune it a bit sharp.  Not 
objectionably so, explaining (if they're nearby and interested) that it will 
move more INTO tune at first before moving more OUT of tune.

Hope this helps.  I usually just "lurk" this list, and ask questions as 
needed.  And often when I think of something to ADD, someone else already 
suggested the same thing, such as swizzle straws for the Mannino files, or 
pilot pins for center pin replacement.

Respectfully,
John Dorr, RPT
Helena, MT