Breaking Strings

[PDtek@AOL.COM]

In a message dated 98-10-07 18:41:53 EDT, you write:

> Hi Clyde,
>  I have had a similar situation, with certain Mason & Risch pianos. The
>  reason in my case for the excessive bass string breakage, was that the
>  pin depth and/or angle were incorrect, causing the wire turnings on the
>  tuning pin to overlap. This caused stress and breakage.

Every time I pitch raise a piano, this is one of the first things I look for,
especially in small verticals. A bass string that overlaps the last coil on
the pin is a string ready to break. The most notable example that comes to
mind is the Yamaha P202, which also had an extreme angle around the plate
pins, which didn't help. (I also understand that there were some scaling
problems there, too.) Plenty of other makes exibit this predisposition, and
when encountered, the owner gets a detailed warning about broken strings and
where the responsibility of replacement cost lies.

Dave Bunch