[pianotech] Hammer Technique: was Q & A Roundtable

[David Love]

Maybe you've never had a string break.  And if you have how do *you* know
why it breaks?  Yes, pianos do get chipped well  above 440 but that's not
the point.  In those cases the string segments are rendering very well and
the tension is distributed through the entire string pretty instantly.  If
you take that 3 inch segment between the pin and the first friction point
and bind the string at that point so that it can't  move, it takes very
little increase or movement with the tuning lever in a section that is
already on the high side of break point percentage (as the high treble tends
to be) to change to push that small segment past the break point.  It's the
same reason that Yamaha bass strings where the hitch at the tuning pin side
forms a very sharp angle toward the tuning pin tend to break so easily.  The
string is already near the break point and the friction at that hitch binds
the string so with relatively little movement of the pin that first segment
is pushed beyond its break point.  I would contend that poor rendering is a
major contributor to string breakage.  If you are overshooting the target or
let's say tune in a way that pulls that segment above its final resting
tension then you increase the odds in high friction situations that you will
exceed the break point of that first section.  Seems obvious to me.  

 

David Love

www.davidlovepianos.com

 

From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of John Formsma
Sent: Wednesday, February 02, 2011 5:29 AM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: Re: [pianotech] Hammer Technique: was Q & A Roundtable

 

Maybe theoretically .... but I haven't observed this in my 15 or so years of
tuning.

 

It takes a lot higher to break a string, unless it's just ready to break.
(For various reasons: weakened at the capo area, or becket, etc.)  When a
piano is restrung, doesn't it get chipped to well above A440? I remember
someone from Kawai (I think D. Mannino) saying their pianos are tuned to
either A443 or A444 before they are shipped to the USA.

 

Anyways, I don't yet see how a little overshoot contributes to string
breakage. Yeah, I see the theoretical possibility of it since the pitch is
slightly higher, but don't observe it in real life.

 

--

JF

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