[pianotech] Petrofs

[Tom Gorley]

A local theater booked an act from New York.  The pianist advised that we should expect broken strings.  He said he broke many strings wherever he played.  The theater had 2 Yamaha U-1's.  He broke 8 bass strings in 3 days on the pit piano, in spite of having his own speaker monitor.

The piano never broke a string before that time nor after.

>    Tom Gorley
> Registered Piano Technician     
>       





On Sep 20, 2011, at 10:47 PM, Joseph Garrett wrote:

> Wim said: "When a string breaks at the pin or hitch pin, it's usually a
> weak string. When it breaks at the agraff, it's usually hard playing. Do
> you remember where this string was broken? As Jerry mentioned, the guy
> might be practicing a particular piece of music where that note is hit
> repeatedly. One suggestion is to check the voicing on that particular note.
> It might be a little softer that the others around it, and the pianist is
> hitting that note a little harder to create a louder sound, this putting
> more strain on the string. "
> 
> Wim, 
> You are partially correct. When a string breaks at the agraffe  or Capo,
> etc. it can be many things. The last thing I would fault is the playing,
> even tho I have known "musicians"(?) that could break strings at will.
> These knot heads usually did it to get the "Night Club Owner" to fix/tune
> the darned piano!<G> Or....simply because someone really pissed them off.
> The first things to look at are structural. If all appears to be o.k., then
> I'd check scale and hammers. Next regulation and then the possible "ham
> handed" player. I once had a 85 lb. female entertainer type that completely
> destroyed a Yamaha P22. Two reasons she did it: 1. she hated the gig and
> the piano! 2. because she could! The lady had "chops"!!! One of the main
> reasons these types of pianos self-destruct, is poor design, IMO. There
> seems to be the brunt of piano design, nowadays, is to make them more
> powerful. They try to do this by increasing the mass of the Sound board.
> Then, to get that moving they increase the mass of the bridges and greatly
> increase the tension! THEN, to add insult to injury, they put rock hard
> hammers on the damned piano to get it to overcome all the built in problems
> they put into the design! Stupid in my not so humble opinion. Then, they
> say it's a "paino". Bullpuckey! It's a PSO and nothling more. Any aural
> similarity to a real piano is purely coincidental! Lastly, we are asked to
> make it "sound" correct! Yeah, like that's going to happen! 1st most people
> of today don't have a clue of what a real piano is supposed to sound like.
> Why? Because the music they listen to is so distorted by the recording
> industry and the piano manufacturers. Even the top end pianos sound like
> crap, most of the time. They need someone, ( a miracle man, so to speak),
> like Andre to even make it slightly palatable. Tis' the "sound" of the
> times. Sigh!!
> That's the way I see it. (Definately why no one has ever asked me to design
> a piano.<G>)
> Regards,
> Joe
> 
> 
> Joe Garrett, R.P.T.
> Captain of the Tool Police
> Squares R I
> 

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