[pianotech] Private Strings made to measure

[Mike Spalding]

Ron Nossaman wrote:
>
>> Thanks for the response.  I certainly expect that stringmakers can do 
>> as you say, but I just received a set of strings that's only going to 
>> work if they get shorter as I pull them up to pitch.  Not sure yet 
>> how the maker and I are going to resolve this, we're still talking.  
>> Who do you find easiest to communicate with regarding length and 
>> stretch?
>
> Sounds like Mapes. 
Yup.
> They've been infamous for just this thing for at least 30 years that I 
> know of. When it happened to me, they were all huffy about it until I 
> pointed out that the order specified precisely what the measurements 
> were that I sent, and the screw up was theirs. They grudgingly 
> refunded the price, but only after I sent the strings back at my cost 
> so they could check them against the measurements I sent - and so I 
> wasn't lying to them for a refund on strings I'd use anyway.
Did you offer to send them a video of you cutting their strings in 
half?  Or proof of purchase of the replacement set from their competitor?
>
> They're permanently off my list.
Yup.
>
> Arledge probably is too, since he never was able to seem to make loops 
> that wouldn't break, and his strings have gotten "lively" (noisy). J D 
> Grant accurately makes what I spec without arguing with me, his loops 
> don't break, and the strings sound dependably clean and uniform from 
> set to set.
Thanks for the testimonial.  I'll definitely consider JDG.
>
> FWIW
> Ron N
>