Decker Bros. Upright

[Stephen Airy]

My Ricca & Son piano has a broken string at each end
of the bass bridge, and I would like to splice them.  

Btw, I got the piano from a friend who had stored the
piano in their daughter & son-in-law's garage within 2
miles of the Pacific Ocean in San Diego, CA for about
10 years or more.  The piano was owned by this
friend's mother, who passed away in the late 1980s. 
My friend's parents originally bought the piano, from
what he told me when he gave it to me, in the 1920s.

About splicing the strings:
the A1 string broke at the tuning pin coil so I am
fairly sure it can be spliced.
What I am wondering about is how short can the wire be
from the end of the winding before you guys say you
have to replace the string?  My right B27 string (the
farthest right string on the bass bridge) is broken
such that the end of the string that's still there
lies somewhere on the bass bridge as far as I know
(but that's when I just hold it up to the place it
goes, and don't try to pull it up to pitch with brute
physical force.  (I'd like to know of someone who can
pull a concert grand bass string up to pitch with
their physical strength. :))  Do you think it can be
spliced?  I think there's about 1.5 to 2 inches
between the winding and the end of the string.  I am
inexperienced at splicing strings, but we are having
our YC PG-150 next week, and the piano tuner (Lee
Hintz) might be able to help me with it, as well as
sanding the 1/4" grooves out of my hammers (although
the piano still does have excellent tone -- just not
very good on the lowest 4 or 5 notes on the treble
bridge -- the hammers there just don't quite give a
solid enough blow so the tone is kinda dull.  I also
will probably get my bridle straps replaced, and if I
can get the rest of the missing ivories from a friend
of mine I might like to reglue some of those old ones
back on so I don't have to play wooden keys :)
(although i've gotten used to it some, and have played
much worse pianos, like the one at
http://briefcase.yahoo.com/stephen_airy (click on
pianostuff folder and the picture is RCPiano1, which,
needless to say, is badly out of tune.  I might post a
few recordings of what it sounded like in 1982, and it
hasn't been tuned since then.  I would guess that then
it was probably 100 to 150 cents flat, and it has been
stored in a small (uninsulated?) room next to a window
in a building at Robber's Cave State Park near
Wilurton, OK))

--- Terry Beckingham <beckingt@mb.sympatico.ca> wrote:
> Hi Richard,
> 
> Thanks for the reply.  I suspect that the bass
> strings were replaced on an 
> ad hoc basis as they broke over a period of time.
> It's not like all of the 
> single or double unisons were replaced. It appears
> though, that the 
> replacement strings were custom made as they do not
> appear to be hex core 
> universal strings.
> 
> I think there is quite a sentimental value to the
> new owner. I believe the 
> piano was in her family since it was new, and that
> she learned to play on 
> it. It is really a nice old piano. It appears that
> the case was 
> professionally refinished at some point and still
> has a lovely appearance. 
> I'll see if the owner will spring for restringing
> and perhaps new hammers. 
> Maybe new bushing where required. I doubt that she
> will go for more than that.
> 
> Thanks for your reply.
> 
> Terry Beckingham
> 
> At 06:42 PM 4/9/2001 -0400, you wrote:
> >Hi Terry
> >
> >I can never figure out why someone replaces ½ of a
> set of
> >bass strings or hammers or whatever. That should be
> the alarm
> >bell. You should really check out the rest of the
> piano for
> >integrity and explain to the customer the risks due
> to age,
> >what it might really cost to make the piano whole
> again. Very
> >important to find out her sentiment towards the
> piano (came from
> >Mom & Dad you know) don't be too harsh. Maybe try
> some interim
> >steps to see if you can just get it going, you said
> the action wasn't
> >too bad. You have to decide if YOU want to take on
> the piano as well.
> >
> >In my experience some of those old Deckers were
> pretty
> >good, well built instruments.
> >
> >
> >Mark Ritchie RPT
> 


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