String breakage (was Re: I Raise the pitch...)

[KUANG]

On Wed, 9 Apr 1997, Jim wrote:

> To Mr. Kuang and List:
>
> It has been my considerable experience that strings break more often in
> raising the pitch than in lowering,

This makes sense.  Do you tune flat before going up in pitch?

>But much more often from hard playing.

Ever since I began to tune flat before going up in pitch, more and more
strings break from tuning, _not_ playing.

> While working at ASU for 15 years,  I believe there were only 3 strings
> that broke while I was tuning, but every week on Monday, I would repair

I broke at least 3 strings while I was tuning last month.
The reason why so many string broke is because I always tune at least a
half note flat (100 cents) before going up in pitch (almost always).

> or replace from 3 to 7 strings broken by extreme heavy playing over the
> weekend.  Some students would practice all day long on Saturday or Sunday

Once I broke two strings in an hours when I was practicing on a Model L,
it was very frustrating though.  One thing I noticed was that the broken
string was warmer (especially right above the hammer where it usually
break under heavy playing) than my hand.

> to make up for lack of practice earlier in the week, and they seemed to
> hope that playing louder would make up for missed hours during the week.

Believe or not, alot of teachers recommand practicing loud and slow,
especially in europe.  But it was supposed to be done daily, not just the
day before lesson :) .  Sometimes you can make up for missed hours during
the week.

>
> Jim Coleman, Sr.
>

Kuang Wang