strings 'n stuph

[Farrell]

I own an all-original (qutie sure) 1912 Mason & Hamlin upright (not a
screw-stringer) that I will rebuild sometime. It has copper-wound monocords,
several copper-wound bicords, and several iron-wound bicords on the bass
bridge. Also, it has two sets of iron-wound bicords followed by three sets
of iron-wound tricords on the bottom end of the treble bridge. And yes, the
iron-wound strings are real tubby, while the copper-wound strings have a bit
of life to them yet.

Interesting - the soundboard (which will be replaced) of this piano has 15
ribs. They  are graduated from big fat normally spaced ribs in the bass end
to small cross-dimension closely spaced ribs in the treble. It also has a
"Patented Repetition Action" - they put a little springy copper-sheet on the
front of each jack which contacts a felt pad on the back side of the
(backcheck) catcher about at letoff. The spring appears to get compressed
during/after letoff and during aftertouch, which, I suppose, helps the jack
return under the hammer butt more quickly for faster repitition! Does anyone
know if hammer butts/wippens like these are available?

Terry Farrell
Piano Tuning & Service
Tampa, Florida
mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul" <tunenbww@clear.lakes.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Tuesday, September 19, 2000 8:40 AM
Subject: Re: strings 'n stuph


> John
> I have come across this same pattern in some old uprights, too, but I
can't
> recall the brands. Maybe some one will follow with an explanation.
>
> Paul Chick
>
> John wrote:
> > I came across a piano the other day (an old Strohber upright) that had
> > copper wound in the single and lower half of the double wounds, and iron
> > wound in the upper half of the doubles.  The remaining iron wrapped
> > strings were dead.  I assumed that someone replaced only half the bass
> > strings at one time.  Could that piano have been designed that way?
> >
> > John Voigt
> >
> >
> >
>