<HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>Re: [CAUT] Harpsichord strings breaking</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY> On 9/21/07 3:25 PM, "ITUNEPIANO@aol.com" <ITUNEPIANO@aol.com> wrote: <BLOCKQUOTE>Thanks, Fred.  This harpsichord has press in pins with no becket hole.   Initially, it was 3 notes flat, the pins were loose, and the coils were too low to press the pins in further to tighten them.  I loosened the pins, carefully raised the coils so I could press the pins in further but I'm getting breakage at A-440.  I suppose disturbing the coils might be the culprit, although I was very careful.  I've had several new strings break at A-440, but I might have had the string tail under the coils.  I'll need to check that. I'll also check the measurements.  The strings I've replaced are the correct size per Zuckerman's scale.      Bob Maret, RPT Piano Technician </BLOCKQUOTE>     Were your replacement (and/or original) strings low tensile or modern piano-wire style?     I mentioned the possibility of turning it into transposing. That is a pretty big task, but a more doable one is simply to remove the top key treble end, cut 1/2” off the keyframe that end, slide it over and fix it in place (making sure the backs of keys line up under jacks), and make a larger cheek block for the bass. You’ve lost a note, but it plays 440. This is more or less assuming it is designed for 415, which seems quite possible. My memory is a bit vague, but it seems to me that that was an advertised feature of authenticity at a certain point (along with the becket-less pins, the screw-less jacks, and the registers you change by reaching around the side of the instrument).     Those supposedly tapered tuning pins are a real pain. They aren’t actually tapered except for a short segment at the very bottom, so they don’t really get much tighter with pounding in a bit, as a truly tapered pin in a taper drilled hole would. I bought a similar kit Z instrument (from someone who never quite completed it) to use as a rental, and got frustrated pretty quickly with those pins. I drilled out the holes in the block and replaced with zither pins. End of chronic slipping pins problem. Also, beckets actually do come in handy <G>. Fred </BODY> </HTML>