[CAUT] Steinway B breaking strings

[Greg Newell]

Jeff,
         Could it be that this pianist is quite aware of, and trying to 
overcompensate for, the killer octave dilemma?

Greg Newell


At 03:20 PM 2/13/2006, you wrote:
>Ok, so I'm bringing this back up again.
>
>Our heavy handed pianist's 10-year-old B has experienced over an
>octave of broken strings in the 6th and into the 7th octaves.  All of
>the wire from C#6 to C#7 has been replaced at least once.  None of
>our other ten Bs, all purchased the same year, have had even one
>broken string, and yes, all but one are in piano faculty studios.
>The other 8 Bs we have from the late 60s to mid 70s all still have
>mostly original wire in that area.  There were no broken strings on
>this piano until about a year or a little more after this professor's
>arrival.  In fact, I've probably replaced as many or more strings on
>her piano alone than on the other 51 grands over the last two years.
>Now that we are beginning to replace these same strings a SECOND
>time, she wants me to find a way to blame the piano.
>
>Apparently one of her students from Utah told her that a technician
>out there blamed broken strings on a sharp capo.  This one feels no
>sharper than any of the others we have, but I don't know how I'd go
>about measuring that spec to know if that's really the problem.  Her
>claim is that since the string is breaking at the capo....
>
>(yeah, I know, but anything to keep from blaming the player)
>
>Hammer grooves are no better or worse than any other piano.  I even
>filed them one time to see if that would help and it has not.
>
>We are going to swap the pianos in her studio to see how the up until
>now less played piano behaves.
>
>But in the meantime, do you suggest I let down the tension and
>"shoeshine" the capo to see if that helps?  Any other suggestions?
>
>I realize piano technicians know nothing of piano technique, and all
>the foremost authorities of string breakage are PERFORMING ARTISTS
>and not technicians, physicists or engineers.  But at what point can
>we say that fortissimo is pushing the machine past its design
>limitations?
>
>Thanks.  I'm off to change two more strings in her studio.  And no,
>this piano is never in tune anymore.
>
>Jeff
>
>
>
>Jeff Tanner, RPT
>University of South Carolina
>
>
>
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