wire coming out of beckett

Sarah Fox sarah@gendernet.org
Sat, 29 May 2004 10:57:23 -0400


This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment
Hi Mike,

Just another guess:  Could the becket hole be too large (i.e. =
design/manufacturing defect)?  This would have the same effect of having =
a rounded becket hole, namely that the effective radius of the bend =
would/could be too large.  Is this in the treble end? If there's room, =
perhaps you could wedge the becket with another very short piece of wire =
(i.e. the length of the hole).  Dunno...

Peace,
Sarah

  ----- Original Message -----=20
  From: Mike Bratcher=20
  To: Pianotech=20
  Sent: Friday, May 28, 2004 11:53 PM
  Subject: wire coming out of beckett


  Hi List,

  I tuned a piano today.  Very nice Kawai console, about 17 yrs old.  It =
looks like it's 2 years old.  Piano is up to pitch.  Nothing out of the =
ordinary.  I tuned up to f#7 and broke that string.  I could almost =
"tell" it was going to break.  The pitch wasn't changing and the pin got =
harder to turn.  But, I wasn't focusing on that, so it broke.

  Now comes the strange part.  I replaced the string.  As I was bringing =
it up to tension, it broke.  That's a first for me.  Let me start off by =
saying I think I'm a pretty good stringer.  Becketts are always tight in =
the pin, coils are perfect, the right number of coils and pin height is =
all perfect.  Ok....maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention when =
this string broke.  String number 2 (or three however you look at it)  =
put it on...again...perfect.  Finished tuning the piano.  Went back to =
touch-up tune the new strings and wow ....they dropped in pitch.  =
Ok...retune them.  retune them...retune them...retune them....HEY!  =
Something's going on here.  I stopped and tuned just one string.  As I =
tune, I bring it up to pitch, but now I keep playing the note with out =
turning the pin.  I can easily hear the pitch dropping.  I retune and =
the same thing.  I look at the pin, and the beckett is clearly slipping =
out.  Finally the whole thing pops out.  Damn...Next string I made sure =
there was wire poking out the other side.  Finished tuning it up and =
noticed the pitch was dropping on this new string too...Man how can this =
happen?

  I let the customer know there may be a problem here in the future, as =
I'm getting frustrated at this point.  Pitch was still dropping when I =
left.  I'm thinking I may need to replace the tuning pin.  I know I =
could just put the wire through farther and bend it over like Baldwin =
does on their vertical pianos.

  This shouldn't be happening right?  Like I said...I think I can string =
well enough, that that isn't the problem. =20

  Any thoughts

  Mike Bratcher
---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/4c/69/f9/68/attachment.htm

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


This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC