[pianotech] broken strings

[tnrwim at aol.com]

Greg

The music director needs to tell the piano player to back off.  Shaping the hammers will help, but there are several things that can be done to keep the strings from breaking. , 

First, increase let off to about 1/4" or even more. (You will need to also turn down the drop screws.)
Second, reduce keydip by a .50 punching. The less power he can produce with the keys, the less damage. 
And last, if there is a sound system, be sure there is a monitor speaker right behind the piano player. If this is a typical situation, the piano player is trying to compete with the drums and guitars. But he can't hear himself, so he plays harder and harder. So miking the piano, and putting the monitor behind him, will give him a better idea of how loud he really is. 
Other than that, unless you can convince the music director to have the piano player pay for the broken strings, just consider this a nice account, and keep replacing the strings.  

 
Wim


-----Original Message-----
From: Greg Hollister <ghollpiano at yahoo.com>
To: pianotech <pianotech at ptg.org>
Sent: Thu, Jun 21, 2012 5:52 pm
Subject: [pianotech] broken strings



I am servicing a Young Chang grand with a history of string breakage in the top 3 octaves of the piano. The hammers have never been shaped and are quite flat . I'm going to restore the hammer shape but  I'm not sure that's the whole story.  Obviously the pianist has been getting carried away with his right hand, but are the strings themselves ever to blame? I've told the music director that shaping and voicing the hammers may not be a cure all for the breakage but that it will be worth doing in any case.  I guess I just looking for some feedback as to whether I'm taking this in the right direction.  I appreciate any help. 

Greg Hollister RPT


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20120622/26b0ed03/attachment.htm>