<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en"> <html> Friends, I have a client who is both a school music teacher and a church pianist.  In January 1999 the lowest F string tore (F9 or F1, depending on which way you want to identify it) on the church piano, a 1987 Everett console.  Two months later in March, 1999, the same string tore, but this time on the school piano, a 1967 Hobart M. Cable console.  I replaced both with new custom-wound strings from Schaff. Last night she called me to say that the same string is torn again, this time in the church piano.  It appears obvious to me that somehow or another she is beating the tar out of this note.  Having discussed this with her, what else can I do to minimize the likelihood of this happening again?  Will setting letoff to a half inch or so do the trick? Regards, Clyde Hollinger</html>