Birdcage Tech, Baldwin String Breakage

[paul bruesch]

On the string breakage note, yesterday I had A1 and A#1 break in a school
band room piano... Yamaha P22, 1993 vintage. I was pretty surprised, but it
does get used LOTS, and I think it's been abused. Bruises all over,
miserable environment conditions (75 degrees, 18% humidity at 5pm... in west
central Wisconsin... in February). Soundboard is cracked, hammers are more
grooved than most home-based pianos (of that era) I see. The front-to-rear
base extensions (the front legs attach to them over the casters) are
metal-bracketed (after-market (by the school maintenance dept??)) in an
apparent repair effort. Sad.

On 2/27/07, Paul McCloud <service at pianosd.com> wrote:
>
>  Is this piano subjected to heavy usage, perhaps in a church?  If it is,
> that would explain a lot of string breakage.
>
>
>
>             Paul McCloud
>
>             San Diego
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> *From:* pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] *On
> Behalf Of *ginnybear at att.net
> *Sent:* Tuesday, February 27, 2007 9:10 AM
> *To:* pianotech at ptg.org
> *Subject:* Birdcage Tech, Baldwin String Breakage
>
>
>
> Does anyone know of a piano tech who is willing to work on a Danish
> birdcage/overdamper piano in Seattle?  I was able to tune the piano, but
> it's "near the end of its wear cycle" and I don't want to get involved with
> repairing it.  Not much wrong with it yet, but it's old, of course.
>
>
>
> Second and unrelated, I had a weird multiple string breaking experience
> recently.  It's about a 6' Baldwin grand, with a hidden (haven't found it
> yet) serial number, looks pretty new.  It's one of those Baldwins where it's
> hard to get the pin to move without moving your hammer much greater than
> usual, but you gotta do it for the sake of stability.
>
>
>
> On my first visit there almost a year ago, it presented with a broken
> string, a bichord near the top of the bass.  I replaced it, and tuned the
> piano (and later replaced it with a pair of custom strings).
>
>
>
> When I came back a few weeks ago, two strings broke while I was tuning.
> One was next to the string that had broken previously, one was in the high
> treble.  It really shot my nerves, the combination of trying to set the pins
> stably without breaking further strings!  And I was wondering, why so many
> broken strings on what looked like a pretty new piano?
>
>
>
> In the checking around I've done, the two most likely suggestions seem to
> be that either the piano underwent some abuse (kids or prior owners- it was
> bought in an auction?), or the hammers might need reshaping.  I was also
> encouraged not to be too timid in turning the pins til I can feel the bottom
> move, thinking that if a string breaks it's better to do it when I'm there.
>
>
>
> Finally, I could note I'm closing in on 500 pianos tuned.  Not the most
> experienced person on this list, but not a total beginner either.
>
>
>
> Thanks for any help on either of these issues.  Broken strings really
> raise my blood pressure!
>
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