[CAUT] breaking strings

[Donald McKechnie]

Jim,

I have to deal with the same thing here at IC. Kawai seems to be more  
susceptible than others. But, I agree that it is a common problem in  
other brands given the heavy use situation. I vaguely remember Newton  
Hunt addressing this issue some years ago at Rutgers. If I have it  
correct, he did rescale the Kawai (GS-50 I think) and put Issac bass  
string and hammers on the piano. He and the students were satisfied  
with the results but I do not know how well the strings held up over  
time. Perhaps the tension is a little bit higher on Kawai than the  
other comparable brands. Don Mannino might have some insight into this.

Don

> List,
>
> We have four KG-2As that now break strings regularly (weekly) in  
> octaves 5-7. The bass is also becoming “thumpy”. Granted, they are  
> very heavily used (Up to 17 hours a day), but we try to keep them  
> voiced and regulated so I don’t believe maintenance is the issue; I  
> think the strings are simply fatigued. (I can break strings myself  
> with 20 – 30 good solid blows.) I tried decreasing the blow to give  
> a bit less power hoping that it would diminish the breakage, and  
> that helps somewhat, but I don’t like to sabotage piano performance  
> just so I can work less… BTW, the strings break mainly at the v-bar.
>
> I will be restringing these pianos next month (I’ve HAD IT with  
> them…) so does anyone have any advice concerning the scaling, etc.?  
> I will be dressing the V-bar and doing all the usual prepping. This  
> is a high tension scale and I’d love to redesign it but don’t want  
> to put that kind of time and money into these…
>
> Any helps out there???
>
> Thanks.
>
> Jim Busby BYU


Don McKechnie
Piano Technician
Ithaca College
dmckech at ithaca.edu
607-274-3908




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