> From: Terry Farrell <mfarrel2 at tampabay.rr.com> > Date: February 11, 2011 12:33:50 PM EST > > Hi Folks. I just got back to my shop after trying to replace a spliced bass string and have run into a problem. > .... > Okay, so plan now is to remove some windings and make a knot a centimeter or so lower into the speaking portion of the string. I know it may affect string tone - I figure I'll just try it and see how it sounds. It is often quite surprising how closely the two strings match in tone and inharmonicity after this procedure. > ...I realize that I can drill a hole immediately adjacent to the original pin (if it were to break) and install a new one. But that will move the string way over and then I'll have a poorly aligned hammer (I guess not that big a deal) and I'll have to fart around with the damper. If you go this route, you won't just have a poorly aligned hammer. You will also have a neighboring hammer that partially strikes this string (you may have to file off a significant portion of the neighboring hammer in order to get it to clear - not a desirable situation). You will also have two hammers that are prone to interfering with each other, and two dampers that are prone to interfering with each other. There is very little margin for error in the pin layout of the upper termination in an upright, and the often fairly severe angle at which the bass strings cross over the tenor in a console makes the margin for error yet a little smaller. My first move would be to lock a set of vise-grips on the pin and attempt very gingerly to rotate it. If you can get it to rotate at all, you can either wiggle it back and forth while pulling it out (for replacement), or, if the pin seems amenable, turn the pin so that the bend you put in it is helping to pinch the string tight instead of hindering termination. Or, obviously, you can try to straighten it, but that introduces more metal fatigue. Steel is awfully tough, though, and it might well survive straightening. I am assuming that the pin is steel and not cast iron (since it bent on you, it probably is steel). If the pin does break, I would drill a slightly larger hole immediately adjacent to it, and coax the stub into the new hole for removal. I would then fill the new hole with JB Weld or similar, redrill the old hole just where it was to clear it of any JB weld, and then insert my new pin. That's the way to keep the piano geometry as close to as it was before. If you don't want to go to all of that trouble, you could instead draw a line on the plate indicating the travel of the string. The "'string line" will be tangent to the stub of the old pin. You could drill a hole for the new pin either diagonally above or below (and adjacent to) the stub so that the new hole and the string line also form a tangential relationship, and drive your new pin in there. That way, the speaking length may be increased or decreased by, say, 2 mm, but the speaking length of the string will travel in the exact same direction it did before. Drilling the new pin above the stub will increase the speaking length, increasing tension and possibly hastening the demise of your nice new knot. So, drilling diagonally below is a little "safer" if the plate layout will allow it. > I wonder how many hours it's gonna take me to replace one string (at my standard string replacement fee). Crud. We all know that feeling! Good luck with it. Joe DeFazio Pittsburgh -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20110211/2cbf3a4f/attachment.htm>
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