[CAUT] Steinway B breaking strings

[Don Mannino]

Jeff,

Yes, of course, it most certainly MUST be the piano's fault.  But wait,
then again, it might be the piano TUNER's fault! - - - Pianists who,
rather than getting a degree in making music, instead get a black belt
in piano, cannot possibly be to blame for destroying their instruments.

Others disagree with me, but I do not believe that the capo bar leads to
string breakage unless the capo material is extremely hard and has a
very broad V shape.  I am not sure if 10 years ago Steinway was heat
hardening the capos, but even if they were the capo material should
still be quite a bit softer than the music wire.  If the capo has a
sharper V, the wire tends to settle into the iron a little and make a
saddle, which in my (unproven) opinion is actually better for the wire
than a broad V bar shape.  The large cross section can lead to
flattening of the wire.

String lengths do vary a bit in Steinway pianos, so it would be easy to
make a sample measurement on this piano and compare it to the other Bs.
If the strings are substantially longer on the 'problem' piano, then one
could argue that this added tension might be contributing.  At least a
little.

Changing all of the affected wire is also very good idea - reshaping the
hammers alone without replacing the old wire will not do much, as you
discovered.  Replace all of the affected wire, shape the hammers again,
touch up the regulation and voicing, and the breakage will stop for a
while.  If you then make it a habit of shaping the hammers lightly every
3 months or so, I think the number of broken strings per week ;-) should
drop to more reasonable levels.

I once did this on a Baldwin SD-10 which had a pianist preparing for
competitions and such, and string breakage changed from a weekly event
to one every 2 or 3 months or so.  Much more manageable.

Changing pianos is an excellent idea.  The conclusion for the pianist
will be inescapable - it MUST be the piano tuner's fault!   No, really,
having this happen on another piano will make your persuasion that much
easier.

Try not to let this become a fighting issue - do your best to be
persistent and gentle and educate the pianist.  You can be sure that she
has had this problem before, and with sufficient tact you should be able
to get her to understand that with her incredible technique and ability
to produce a big tone, she simply has to expect that additional service
is going to be needed on her piano, and you will do your best to keep up
with it.

Don Mannino RPT


> -----Original Message-----
> From: caut-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces@ptg.org] On 
> Behalf Of Jeff Tanner
> Sent: Monday, February 13, 2006 12:20 PM
> To: College and University Technicians
> Subject: [CAUT] Steinway B breaking strings
> 
> 
> 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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