Once I was rebuilding a Steinway 'S' and discovered a significant change in the string scale. One size continued on for a full section without changing. I checked the "Guide To Restringing Book" to see if any varied scales might have been made but there was no record of what I was seeing. The piano had it's original strings from the factory. I called New York and talked with Steve Dove who researched it for me by serial number. He later admitted to me that the "likely cause" was that the factory simply ran out of a particular wire size and rather than halting production they continued for a short period with an improvised scale. He assured me that this is something that would never be done today but in the 1920s when demand was high and supplies were sometimes low they would occasionally cheat a little. Of course the same could probably be said for all factories, not just Steinway. Rob Goodale, RPT Las Vegas, NV kam544@flash.net wrote: > List, > > Experienced a minor oddity today. > > Replaced a broken B7 treble string on a 1960s' Steinway D today. Measured > the string with a digital caliper and came up with .030 (Size 12 1/2). > However, the plate was clearly marked 13 1/2 as the lowest size. > > The string was original. > > Is it possible for a string to stretch itself over the years by that much > and become a smaller diameter than it was in the beginning?
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