String Replaced

[Van Der Rhoer]

Now that the Middle C string has been replaced, here is what the technician
thought about my Baldwin:  he said it was "not undangerous" to tune because
the pins are quite tight, but when they move they move a great amount
unexpectedly.  He thought I probably had that happen.

Kevin Ramsey, you suggested that Baldwins are famous for tight pinblocks
(and both you and Terry Farrell thought that that was the reason for the
cracking sounds) -- sounds spot on.  But then suddenly the pin moves a lot,
the technician said, and that's when it gets tricky.

Apparently, there are also two or more cracks in the soundboard, which were
repaired earlier, but he also suggested it makes string breakage more
possible; somehow to do with getting the piano pitch to A 440, which was
done two weeks before, but makes for tricky tuning.  Too advanced for me,
I'm afraid.  

Thank you, Dave Nereson, for your description of the many different reasons
why strings break.

Thanks also to Greg Newell (on tapping bridge pins), and Keith Roberts (on
buying a micrometer and replacing strings).

Incidentally, the technician replaced the string in about 20 minutes; the
Middle C string passes under the bass strings, which makes the process a
little harder and takes a little more finesse.  (It's also much more
difficult to reach the bridge pins, since they lie under the bass string
section, in order to tap them in.)  However, he noticed the bridges were
made with a graphite treatment/layer for the strings to pass over them with
less friction.  I asked him to lubricate them, but he didn't see the need
given the graphite layer on the bridges.  Baldwin evidently has a clever
feature there!

Thanks to all,

Laura