Piano Firing Missiles at Church Congregation

[DGPEAKE@AOL.COM]

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In a message dated 1/27/01 9:57:04 AM Pacific Standard Time, Billbrpt@AOL.COM 
writes:





> List, 
> 
> Yes, it's true and I need some opinions on what to do about it.  It is a 
> Young Chang Grand model G-185, only a few years old.  It is meticulously 
> cared for but early in it's service, the pianist at this, shall we say, 
> "spirit filled" church complained of bass strings breaking and shooting out 
> of the piano. 
> 
> I have tried all of the usual.  I filed the hammers.  A monitor feeds back 
> sound to the pianist.  When I explained to the church directors that it is 
> the "vigorous" style of playing that sometimes causes strings to break, the 
> pianist resigned.  Things were OK for a while but now there is a young lady 
> who is firing scuds at the congregation faster than I can get there to 
> collect them, get them duplicated and replace them. 
> 
> She is quite upset and beside herself.  She refuses to believe that it is 
> the 
> *way* the piano is played that is causing this.  She claims that she has 
> played the piano "all her life" and has never seen or even heard of this 
> happening.  The piano has a string cover which she yanks out and throws in 
> the corner.  She also says she has never played a piano with a "blanket" in 
> it and just "couldn't" play with it in there.  I have firmly insisted that 
> at 
> this point, it is a matter of public safety and won't have any effect on 
> the 
> sound. 
> 
> I am thinking that these wound strings must have particularly high tension. 
>   
> Does anyone know if this is so?  Over the years I have heard of other such 
> instances that were cured by replacing the wound strings with a set of 
> lighter gauged, "happy" strings.  It would seem to me that a lower tension 
> would solve the problem but in reading the recent post about "replacement 
> strings", I am confused.  Some of these strings have been breaking at the 
> bass bridge termination point rather than the agraffe.  That seems very 
> unusual to me. 
> 
> Should the manufacturer supply a new set of wound strings and if so, should 
> they be a set designed for lower tension?  I presume that heavier gauged, 
> higher tension strings provide a bigger, bolder sound.  What effect would 
> lower tension have?  Just as a theoretical question, would tuning the 
> instrument to a lower pitch, say 100 cents lower prevent this from 
> happening 
> (with the same gauge but a *new* set of strings)?  (I do not view this as 
> an 
> option, just a possibility that might work in some other circumstance).  (I 
> also would not even consider altering the regulation to deliberately 
> produce 
> less power). 
> 
> It is also interesting to note that to date, only wound strings have 
> broken, 
> no plain wire. 
> 
> Bill Bremmer RPT 
> Madison, Wisconsin







A charismatic church we used to attend and who I still tune for monthly, has 
a Young Chang G-213. They have a history of broken strings, to the point that 
I have nearly restrung the upper 2 sections (at individual times). Even with 
new bass strings and Renner Blue hammers (which I did not replace),  they 
broke them. I did order a set of lower tension bass strings from Mapes and 
replaced broken strings as needed.

They need to turn the volume of the monitor up so the pianist can hear the 
other instruments in the band as well as the piano. Other problems is that 
the older Young Changs have a history of breaking strings and it is not 
necessarily the scaling. I did some measuring and calculations and they did 
not seem out of line as far is tension, string breakage percentage, etc. In 
fact the treble (in the G-213)  has very low inharmonicity.

One idea is to regulate the letoff wider so the hammer will not hit the 
strings at so much force. I have been told that these pianos have some design 
problems such as too thick of soundboard (Del, please comment here). As to 
whether or not it contributes to broken strings, I am not sure.

The reality is that a spirit filled type church will encounter these problems 
and you will make a lot of money replacing strings. Other than replacing the 
piano this may be your only option unless they go totally electronic and you 
do not have to serviced the piano again.

Dave Peake, RPT
Portland Chapter
Oregon City, OR
www.davespianoworks.locality.com



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