[pianotech] bass strings installation

[wimblees at aol.com]

Marcel

With the lid off, I put all the strings on the hitchpins, and through the agraffs, starting at the last note of the bass section.?Depending on your height, and how many strings there are in the bass section, you should be able to put all of them on by standing along the long side of the piano. Bit sometimes you do wind up walking around the piano. 

After all the strings are in place,?I put masking tape across?the hitch pins and on the bridge, to keep the strings in?place.?I then cut all the strings to length, (three fingers past the pin hole.) Then, starting on note one,?I work my way up, coiling, driving and pulling up the strings tight enough to?keep them on the bridge and?hitch pins,?two strings at a time. After the pin is driven, I use a ratchet with a tuning tip?in my left hand to pull up the tension, (pushing away from my body), while pulling up the coil with a coil lifter in my right hand. You do have to be a little careful not to let the?ends of the unstrung strings poke you in your hand, but after doing this a few times, you learn how not to get "stung". I can do a 36 note bass section in about 45 minutes. 


Wim

-----Original Message-----
From: Marcel Carey <mcpianos at hotmail.com>
To: Pianotech List <pianotech at ptg.org>
Sent: Thu, 23 Apr 2009 4:57 am
Subject: [pianotech] bass strings installation



I'm looking to improve (save time) on my bass strings installation and would like to know how some of you guys proceed. Since I do this alone, there seems to be a lot of my time walking around the piano to hitch one string, cut it to lenght, pass it through agraffe, coil it and insert the pin. Do some of you atart by inserting all strings in the agraffes and then walk around the piano to hitch all the strings and then coil and pin? Or do you hitch all strings and use some kind of weight to keep them in place while you install?
After all these years I might get better at this.
?
Thanks,
?
Marcel Carey
Sherbrooke, QC

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