Baldwin L rusty strings

[Avery Todd]

List,

   I ran into something today that I've never seen in almost 25 years of
doing this type of work. Maybe I've just been lucky.
   Anyway, I was called to tune a 2-1/2 yr. old Baldwin L. It had two
broken strings, one on C6 and the other in the upper part of the tenor bass
string area. The unusual thing, to me, is that BOTH strings broke on top of
the bridge.
   I discovered that the entire long bridge has this VERY rusty wire ONLY
on top of the bridge between the bridge pins. The pins are the copper type.
The other tenor bass strings down at the end of the long bridge where this
one broke are even more rusty than the others. They look like strings I've
seen on pianos that have had "swamp coolers" blowing on them for 20-30
years.
   Another strange thing is that the bass strings on the 'bass' bridge have
NO  rust at all, except for the usual expected in a climate like Houston.
The speaking lengths of the others and the waste end past the bridge are
all normal, also.
   I'm going to call Kent Webb tomorrow in case this turns out to be a
warranty type of thing, but in the meantime I thought I'd check and see if
anyone else has ever seen this on a piano that new. The customer is very
particular about the piano and is very concerned about this being a
continuing problem.
   I don't see how there is any way it could be just the wire itself
because the rest of the lengths are fine. Could it be the bridge lubricant?
Could the bridge itself have held moisture in the air long enough at some
point for this to happen? Considering the type of wood normally used there,
I wouldn't think so.
   I'm out of ideas. Any out there. This is an accu-just hitch pin piano,
so *I* don't "really" want to restring it even if that should turn out to
be the only remedy. Any other suggestions?
   Thanks again.

Avery

___________________________
Avery Todd, RPT
Moores School of Music
University of Houston
Houston, TX 77204-4893
713-743-3226
atodd@uh.edu
http://www.music.uh.edu/

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