Broken String

[David Love]

The boys are just having a bit of fun with you James.  The request seems
simple enough but there are some considerations that an experienced
technician may be helpful with.  You might even have trouble finding a
supplier who will sell you strings without an account.  Depending on the
type of piano and the age, the source for the strings can vary.  Is it a
wound string or a plain wire string?  If it's a plain wire string then that
complicates the instructions at this level.  If it's a would string you may
have to send it off to be duplicated.  Even then, often the replacement
string doesn't match the remaining string exactly so that tuning them
together can be a problem.  Sometimes it is better to replace both strings
in a bichord if one of them breaks.  There are techniques for prewinding the
coil with a minimum of turnout on the old pin to keep it tight.  You will
need some special tools to tighten the coil to insure tuning stability.  The
string may need to be twisted slightly to get it to come to life.  With all
these considerations and with the problem of providing the most basic
instructions including tool acquisition,  I think it is the consensus that
an experienced technician would be best for this particular task.  The rest
is just trade humor.  I hope you're not offended.

David Love


----- Original Message -----
From: "James Gammon" <jtg5f@cms.mail.virginia.edu>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: August 06, 2002 9:56 PM
Subject: Re: Broken String


Did I miss something?  Is this request unusually outlandish?  Did I
somehow indicate that I wanted the string pre-tuned, or even thought
that such a thing was possible?  I just happen to be a guy who likes
to fiddle with stuff, and wouldn't mind the experience of putting the
new string in myself.  My understanding is that a new string costs
around $10, so unless this understanding is wrong, it's worth breaking

another one (or two) to a tinkerer like myself to have the experience
of re-stringing it. I know how to tune it to a unison with the
other E3 string.  Perhaps I stand to do serious damage to the piano
somehow?  If this is the case, by all means, I'll have a registered
technician do it.

   Confusedly,

      jame