breaky Yamaha strings

[Joseph Garrett]

Benjamin,
There are three items that you did not bring up, that could be the cause of
breaking strings. 1. Regulation. In a few cases, I have seen breaking string
problems that were eased, (not solved completely), by proper regulation. 2.
Hammer Shape. If the contact point, (no pun intended), of the hammer is
wider than normal, (Especially on those granite hard types), and flat, this
could be a cause for breaking strings. This is very typical in pianos that
are being used by "vigorous" concert pianist types.
3. Heat is created by the energy absorbed by the string. When a piano is
played many hours a day this heat will tend to remove the temper of the
piano wire.
These things, plus the ones you mentioned, can be the cause. (If all the
conditions exist, then we, as the technician, need to point this out to the
client and try to resolve by bringing the piano back to it's proper
condition.)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Benjamin Treuhaft" <blt@igc.org>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Thursday, May 17, 2001 7:01 AM
Subject: breaky Yamaha strings


> What¹s with Yamaha strings?  This week I replaced four adjacent #14 wires
on
> a 10-year-old Yamaha 6' grand (Model S400E #4881266).
>      The customer (a young concert pianist with long, thin, unmuscular
arms)
> has had dozens of broken strings.
>      I called Yamaha in Los Angeles to ask if this problem is familiar to
> them.  The technician there claimed that 1) the problem is common in all
> makes, not just Yamaha; 2) such problems occur only in Gospel churches; 3)
> if a concert pianist is breaking strings she has bad training;  4) it must
> be a case of hard hammers.
>      In 30 years of tuning I've never experienced this kind of trouble
with
> string breakage other than in Yamaha grands.   One customer, admittedly a
> strong young pianist, broke almost all his high tenor and treble strings
and
> was going to throw the piano away (sell it wholesale to a dealer).  He is
> Christopher Basso, the recent winner of the Van Cliburn Amateur
Competition.
>  He worked at Starbucks for a living, and didnít have a way to pay for new
> strings.   We worked out a way to string now and pay later, and he kept
the
> instrument and won the competition, but Jesus!
>      The S400E has the following stringing scale in the breaky sections,
> about the same as on a Steinway:
> #13  6
> #13.5  4
> #14 4
> #14.5 5
> #15 6
> #15.5 6
> #16 5
>      Could there be something else about the scale that raises the tension
> (maybe those strings are longer than on other grands)?   My only other
> guesses would be 1) since all the broken strings were in the Capo D'Astro
> section, the pressure bar somehow cuts the strings; or 2) there's
something
> breaky about Yamaha wire.
>      Whatever the explanation, I wish Yamaha would come out and admit that
> there's something about those otherwise excellent instruments that breaks
> strings in the treble.   Yamaha artists are often the struggling variety,
> and Yamaha Corporation should find a solution and fix the instruments free
> of charge.
>
> *** *** ***
> "Mr. Benjamin Treuhaft is a first class tuner-technician.  His tuning
meets
> with all our standards.  His action and tone regulation are of equal
merit."
> - Steinway & Sons Concert Dept.