restringing bass

[Newton Hunt]

It takes next to nothing to kill a set of strings and spraying them is a hugh
something.

Having the strings duplicated will compound the errors in scaling and  making
the originals and errors in duplication.

I would suggest searching the archives for posts on cleaning strings (within the
last few weeks), make a paper pattern of the current strings which shows length
and tail data and have the strings rescaled.  Normally rescaling can make the
piano sound a foot longer than it actually is because tension, inharmonicity,
breaking point and volume are balanced to provide more optimum tone.  A little
bit more cost but huge returns.

If you are going to use current pins (I doubt I would) then you should practice
a
on a real piece of junk before attempting to do so with new and expensive bass
strings.

Tighten all the plate bolts and screws you can get to before removing the bass
strings.  There is practically no danger of damage to the plate unless you use a
sledge hammer to make it ring.

You can tap the pins down after the coils are tight, level and strings up to
pitch.  If the coils are 1/8" off the plate now you can maintain that height. 
If they are higher you can drive them down after stringing but you will need to
support the block with a jack before driving them down.  Have you checked the
block condition?

If the piano were completely refinished, case, soundboard and plate with
rescaling the selling price would be near twice the cost of such work.  Doing
half jobs makes for half the income.  If the piano is worth doing it is worth
doing right.

More paint on the board is likely to have no effect on tone unless it is 1/4"
thick.

Lots of luck.

		Newton