[CAUT] Breaking Strings

[James Ellis]

I have been "reading the mail" regarding Karen Lindsley's post about a
piano that is prone to break strings in the upper treble.  The first thing
I would do is check the speaking lengths of some of the breaking strings.
There are a few old pianos out there that were designed for a lower pitch,
and even them, some of the speaking lengths in the high treble were just
too long.  For example, there are a few century-plus old Sohmer's that are
notorious for this.  If this is the problem, none of the suggestions I have
so far read will help.  Changing the wire size will not help, because the
cross-section stress, therefore the "strain" in the wire (not the total
tension) will end up being about the same, no matter what size wire you
use.  Measure the speaking lengths of the problem strings, and compare them
to those of a modern piano before you do anything else.

Other things like termination angles and condition of the capo bar will
exacerbate the problem, but if the speaking lengths are wrong, nothing will
fix it except re-locating the treble bridge, unless you tune the piano to a
lower pitch.

One more thought:  Karen, you said the piano had been re-strung.  Is there
a chance something else was done that might have changed the speaking
lengths of those treble strings?
 
Sincerely, Jim Ellis