Broken Strings

[Jim Coleman, Sr.]

Hi Thomas:

In your post you said: "Is it the hammers, is it me ..."

The unequivical answer is YES.

With the advent of big powerful speakers, people are more used to hearing
very loud bombastic music. Rock music has had its influence on all of us
whether we like it or not. We see the singers and instrumentalist playing
with their arteries bulging at the neck. We see the drummers working up
a sweat while playing. All of this illustrates the total commitment to
the emotion of the music.

Those of us who have been in the business know that we find more broken
strings in the venues where there is this kind of total commitment to the
emotion of the moment. Full Gospel or Pentecostal churches have by far more
broken strings than say a Methodist church whose music is usually more
sedate. Baptist churches can go either way sometimes. Those who are piano
majors in College will break more strings than those who only minor in
piano. It's the total commitment.

Franz Liszt was famous for decimating pianos, even keys. There was a man
with total commitment.

I'm not saying there is anything wrong with total commitment. There is just
a price. If one has difficulty with the price, then wisdom would direct that
one should ease up a bit.

There arises the question naturally; which piano survives best under these
kinds of demands. There is more emotion than fact in the various answers one
will get from this question. A number of years ago at a Florida regional
convention, a number of us were on a panel where we discussed this kind of
string breakage problem. The concensus was that the piano brand did not 
make a bit of difference. We were in agreement as to the types of venues
where breakage was most often found. We were in agreement as to what 
measures could be taken to help avoid these problems none of which you 
would like. The three involved cutting down the power of the action, by
wrong regulation, reshaping the hammers carefully and softening them. The
regulation can involve shortening the hammer blow and widening the let-off
or escapement. Most all of these things run counter to what we know to be
good regulation practice for ultimate performance. The only other option
is to educate the performer as to the limitations of the instrument and/or
the price for repairs.

Jim Coleman, Sr.