Avery writes..... > If that is OK, then to the wires. The first thing I look for is evidence > of previously replaced strings. That alone, especially if in the bass or > middle of the piano, is enough for me to at LEAST give the customer a > STRONG warning about the possibility of more strings breaking. Their > expense, of course. :-) They'll sometimes break even if you end up leaving > it below pitch. As a musician, as well as a technician, I'm a very strong > believer in a piano being at A-440 if there is any possible way this can be > accomplished. If there is any possiblilty that anyone, kids especially, will be practicing on the piano, RAISE it to pitch. Ask me what happens when you practice a Chopin waltz on a piano half a step flat, then play it at pitch fifteen minutes later at the piano teacher's studio. The client should know a pitch raise will take 2, 2 1/2 , or three tunings in the next three months. About breaking strings. When raising to pitch, I tune the A4 to source, then A5, then A6, then A7. Now if one of those strings breaks, it is time to talk about breaking strings and their cost. I do this on every piano I raise to pitch over 1/4 step, (25 cents) and can't remeber in the last ten years a string breaking on this test. BUT a double check is needed, so I go with D3, D4, D5, D6, etc. and then E. If none of those strings break, I can tell the client they should expect to pay for a full pitch raise, 1/2 step (100cents, OK up to 150 cents) at a time, and a follow up tuning in 30 days to 6 months. On pianos before 1900, I caution that the strings may be approaching the end of their life, the cost of replacing broken ones is $XXX. If they want to think about it, the cost of this service call is $XX. But this is what they heard me say on the phone call to set up an appointment with an older piano for the first time. I must admit how those 1900 - 1915 pianos do pull up to pitch. What I can't understand is how bass strings on modern pianos (after 1947) randomly break, (every 10 to 20 pianos) Ric Nobreak
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