<< 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. >> Greetings, The 21.5 string may not have even held, so don't feel too bad. My knot is tied by making 270 degree bend in both the string and the splice, then fitting them together. I take a small pair of vise-grips and grab the bass string at the broken end. I make a 3/4 loop by turning it clockwise until the end has passed back over the string and crosses it at right angles,(the end in the vise-grips will be above the part that is coming out of the agraffe.) put a slight upward bend in this loop so that it is closed and also so that its "hole" is more aligned with the string, you are going to be threading the end of the splice into this hole, so you don't want it flat in the string plane. On my new piece, I grab the end in a similar fashion and turn it counter-clockwise (270 deg.) until it also crosses over above itself. I now have two opposing twists. It is important that the splice piece be at least 10 inches long. Now, take the splice part and invert it, so that the opening of its loop is under the free length, and with it held at 90 degrees to the bass string, hook the loop over the wire and bring it towards you so that long 10 inches is dirctly above the loop in the bass string. This is why you need the length, so that you can easily thread the splice's long end through the broken strings loop and then pull them together. This has never failed me and if done carefully only requres about 1/2" of wire to make the knot. Regards, Ed Foote RPT http://www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/index.html www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html
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