Two broken bass strings in one tuning?????

[John M. Formsma]

Ditto in my experience.

Why weak spots in the wire develop might be an interesting study, but 
we'd still be left with the fact that wires just break. ;-)

In Joel Jones' string splicing/replacement class at Rochester,  we 
cranked up one string (around C5) to a fourth or fifth higher before it 
broke. This was on a 20-30 year-old piano if I recall correctly. 
Granted, bass strings might not take that much extra tension, but who 
hasn't been on the wrong pin and found that he had inadvertently tuned a 
bass string 1/2 step high. <g>

So, that class was further proof to me that "tuners don't break strings."

JF

Mike Kurta wrote:
>    Sam, in my view, there is no clear answer to string breakage.  When 
> I first began tuning, I dutifully applied Protek to string coils and 
> capo and v-bars, and found no difference in string breakage as opposed 
> to the pianos I didn't treat.  The same with lowering the tension 
> first.  I've tuned old uprights that sat on a porch for years and were 
> nothing but a ball of rust, and 150 cents flat, overpulled by 50 cents 
> in one shot, and fine tuned without breaking a single string.
>    I've also seen 1 year old pianos break strings after just nudging 
> the string sharp.  I've now adopted the policy when junking old pianos 
> of purposely breaking all the strings by cranking them tighter.  
> Again, some break immediately, with others I can turn the pin a full 
> half turn before the string breaks. This tells me that there is no 
> rhyme or reason to string breakage, and predicting is nearly 
> impossible.  Slow pull vs. jerk tuning doesn't seem to have a pattern 
> either.
>    Just my 2 cents.....
>    Mike Kurta
>
>