[pianotech] Yamaha Upright String Breaker

John Delacour JD at Pianomaker.co.uk
Sat Jan 8 15:37:22 MST 2011


At 12:47 -0800 08/01/2011, David Love wrote:


>So, in order to blend these three top notes you would need the 
>figures for how many notes going down  (and also up I presume-the 
>first two notes across the break in the low tenor are also wrapped 
>strings).

When I make replacements for tuners who break these strings high up 
in the scale  all the tuner wants and all I want is strings that 
won't break and that are as close as possible to the originals, which 
in this case is not very close.  If somebody really wants the strings 
properly designed and safe, then they can order a whole set.  Neither 
I nor my customers are going to lose any sleep over a lousy little 
Yamaha upright.  All Yamaha strings are bad.


>Can you describe the formula you use for what you refer to as the yield point?

I simply go by the figures I was given over 25 years ago by the wire 
manufacturers for the maximum strain and the 70% of that is what 
experience has taught me and other stringmakers.  My strings don't 
break and many of the thousands of odd replacements I've made for 
tuners who've broken strings we designed to exceed 70%.  I've written 
so much on the list on this question over the years that I'm not 
going to churn it all out again.

I noticed a couple of years ago that Stephen Paulello uses almost 
identical figures for his "modern" wire to those I have always used 
and says more or less the same as I say.  You can download his pdf 
here:

<http://tinyurl.com/27jofaz>

JD



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