Restringing just the bass

[Wimblees@aol.com]

In a message dated 98-06-10 12:05:08 EDT, you write:

Jeannie:

In answer to your questions;

1. It is advisable to replace the entire set, for two reasons. 1. It will look
a lot better, and 2, it costs same. It will be more economical to buy a
complete set of strings,  anyway, so why not use all of them. 
2. My experience has shown that you do not need to let down the tension on the
whole piano to replace the bass strings. I have done this many times, without
a problem. 
3. I would schedule at least 6 tunings after the initial work, to assure the
strings will stay stable. After you put them on, chip tune the strings one
note higher. In other words if the frist note in the bass is a B, tune it to
C, and so on down the line. I know a lot of you are saying "NO WAY, WIM", but
trust me Jeannie, I do this all the time, and I have never had a string break
or a soundboard crack. This helps get the initial stretch out of the string.
Then tune the bass section 25 cents high, and leave. I tell customers they can
play the piano, but that the bass will sound a  little out of tune. Then
schedule a tuning about 2 days later. This will allow the strings to streetch
a little more. This time, tune the whole piano, tuning the bass strings to
pitch.  (after all, the customer can only stand this for a few days.) The next
tuning  should be a week later, and then about 2 weeks after that, and the
last one about a month after that. These last 3 times, you should only need to
touch up the bass section.  Last, I would recommend another full tunign at
least 3 or 4 months after that. 

As far as charging for this, I would include the initial work and the 4 follow
up calls in my price for replacing the bass strings, and the tuning in 3 or 4
months as a seperate tuning. 

Just as a side note, I was asked to clean up a mess at a client who had just
bought a brand new Yamaha grand. 2 days after she got the piano in her house,
her cat decided to use the bass section of her piano for a litter box.
Fortunately, the customer cleaned up most of the mess, but the strings were
ruined. 

This is not the worst part of this story. I ordered a new set of bass strings
from Yamaha. When the strings came, assuming they had sent me the right
strings,  I removed all the old strings. As I was trying to install the new
set, I discovered they had sent me the wrong strings. A week later I got
another set, and scheduled an appointment to put in the set. Guess what, again
the wrong set. Obviously the customer and I were very upset. Finally, after
several more phone calls, and some admitted embarrasment on the part of the
Yamaha techs, they finally sent me the right strings. 

On 6/10  Jeannie Grassi wrote:

<< 
 Dear List,
 Unfortunately I have a client who had something spilled on the bass strings
 of her 10 yr. old Kawai GS-40.  Now about 2/3 of the strings are ruined.
 Which brings up a couple of questions for me in replacing them.
 1)  Since the piano is only 10 yrs. old, would it still be a good idea to
 replace them all so there will be no noticeable difference between the new
 and the old? I've only replaced bass strings on old pianos and the
 difference would have been obvious.
 2) Should tension be let down on the whole piano to replace so many bass
 strings?  Is there a preferred way of doing this?
 3.)  How many follow up visits should I expect to make before these new
 strings will be stable again?  In the past, I've done this on pianos in the
 shop and didn't have to worry about additional trips to the customer who was
 trying to play on the piano every day.
 
 Thanks to you all in advance.  Any suggestions a/o comments are greatly
 appreciated.
 
 Jeannie Grassi, RPT
 jgrassi@silverlink.net
 Bainbridge Island, WA >>