Tuner's Knot--NOT!

[David M. Porritt]

This is a multipart message in MIME format

---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment
Dave:
I'm an odd ball and I know it, but I can see no reason to try to=
 splice it.  A new string -- to me anyhow -- is a much better=
 option.  If I spend more than 10 minutes on a splice attempt in=
 a home, I tell them we have to order another.  Here at the=
 school I keep a set of strings for Ms, Ls, & Bs.  When one=
 breaks, I grab one from the set and about once a month order=
 replacements to keep the sets complete.  
Most of the bass strings that break here, break at the agraffe=
 (from "energetic" practicing) so they can't be spliced anyway=
 unless you don't mind a knot in the speaking length (I do).  
This splicing thread comes up from time to time and while I did=
 manage to splice one successfully for my RPT test, I don't think=
 I splice 1 a year at most.  Yes, I keep all the sizes of treble=
 wire in my car.
dave

__________________________________________
David M. Porritt, RPT
Meadows School of the Arts
Southern Methodist University
Dallas, TX 75275


----- Original message ---------------------------------------->
From: <Piannaman@aol.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Received: Wed, 26 May 2004 09:03:10 EDT
Subject: Tuner's Knot--NOT!

Hi all, 

My last job of the day yesterday was a not-so-long-ago=
 refinished, re-strung M and H AA.  It was sitting in a room that=
 could have doubled as a sauna.  No window coverings on the huge=
 windows, direct afternoon sun for hours.  The side of the piano=
 that faced the window was hot to the touch. 

I gave the owner a brief lecture about the importance of getting=
 her piano into a more temperate climatic situation, then set to=
 work on a 30 cent pitch raise.  First note, A0:  kinda tight=
 feeling pin, yank, THUD!  Broken, right at the pin.  Great=
 opportunity to splice it with the knot I practiced so diligently=
 for so many hours.   

I tried for about twenty minutes to get the leader(all I had was=
 21 1/2 string to use, and the core of the broken string was=
 probably around 24), but I could not get it into position so=
 that I could interface the two ends properly.  The thick wire=
 was pretty hard to work with, because of lack of flexibility,=
 but the main problem was that there was so little space in that=
 little corner of the piano. 

Any ideas for making this repair a little easier?  I'm certain=
 that it could be done.  I will be ordering a new string,=
 however, and given that the strings are relatively new, that=
 will be the best fix.   

Why the original broke is a mystery to me.  It seems likely that=
 the stringer bent it one too many times while installing it. 

Input and advice?   

Thanks, 

Dave Stahl 


---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/33/29/b4/7b/attachment.htm

---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--