[pianotech] Petrofs

[Joseph Garrett]

Another example of two screw ups!
Joe


----- Original Message ----- 
From: Tom Gorley 
To: joegarrett at earthlink.net;pianotech at ptg.org
Sent: 9/21/2011 12:18:29 AM 
Subject: Re: [pianotech] Petrofs


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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