Scaling/Restringing Problem on 1909 5' Ivers & Pond #46320

erwinspiano at aol.com erwinspiano at aol.com
Wed May 21 08:52:52 MDT 2008


? Hey Michael
? First, how big is the piano? Does 82 mean inches or what? 
?? I have rebuilt many of the uprights but only one?6 ft Ivers & pond Grand.? It is an awesome piano but has a weird scale. It wasn't possible to change it much because of the bridge shape. Many of the tensions were near at 70 % of the breaking strength. Never the less it had never broken a string till I tuned it in the shop prior to destringing.
? It's an interesting rascal with a thick board of .400 and veryflat ribs. It showed no crown when strung but had a fantastic crown when un strung.It was obviously designed this way.
?? ?As I often say, .....Many thing work.
? I highly suggest you measure the string lengths very carefully & run them thru P-scale or some other program to invent a scale that looks real.? I suspect the bridge?is not?going to allow you much latitude. On mine for example I had something like 12 unison of no. 15 wire & that's what worked best.
? The bass had two unison of trichord right at the top.? I went with bi-chords there.? 
? I Loved the sound of this piano & still see once in a while. The sustain is unbelievable. Of course?I've heard that the sound is always the best when the breaking strain is high.....right before the string .....breaks...yikes
? Ivers & pond had some odd ideas but they were a quality builder.
? Dale



I brought this piano in for a full rebuild and removed bass/wound strings first,?which extend to D3 in this particular scale, so as to take all of the measurements, rubbings and info to send to James Arledge.

The problem arose when I turned to the Travis guide to restringing to find the scale, there were three possibilities, one was labeled "82", the piano I'm working on has "83" cast into the plate in 2" letters, one had a number(serial number?) lower than mine #42164, the last was just an I&P scale.

As I began checking wire sizes none of them matched any of the scales from the book, not even the scale for the 5'3" I&P!

?

Checking at appropriate intervals I found, #14 wire on 88&87, 13&1/2 on 84, 14 on 81, 14 & 1/2 on 80, 14 on 75, 15 on 72 & 70 and finally found 16 on 62. Number 56 is #22 wire!!! 

?

>From the look and condition of the piano I'm relatively certain all strings are originals or any replacements are?very old so as to appear original. 

?

If anyone has any info they can share about this instrument or has rebuilt one in the past and wishes to share their experience, it would be greatly appreciated.

?

I did not expect nor include in the estimate a rescale but am prepared to do so barring any other info.

?

Thanks,

Mike

-- 
Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence. 
Vince Lombardi

Michael Magness
Magness Piano Service
608-786-4404
www.IFixPianos.com
email mike at ifixpianos.com 

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