<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2873" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hi Terry,</FONT></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=2>The strings break at the tuning pin. The strings render very nicely, but you can feel through the lever and your hand that the string has reached it's breaking point. Strange how this becomes instinctive. That's why I thought this was a tension problem. I told the lady owner straight away that the scaling was all wrong and needed re-scaling. Even the tenor section has corrupt scaling as I couldn't get a decent temperament out of it; nothing slotted into place like it should. I've had drop action spinets that tune better.</FONT></STRONG></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=2>It is traditional here that when a piano is re-whatevered. the technicians just copy what's there. I don't doubt the accuracy of their measurements but I suspect they may not have taken into account the type of core wire originally used in 1890. I've come across so many restrung pianos of that age and they just don't sound right.</FONT></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT></STRONG> </DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=2>The piano is FIVE feet. It looks smaller because the bass strings are so short and stubby. Why they bothered with such small grands, I don't know. They mustn't come with the excuse that it saves space because sofa's and coffee tables are just as space consuming and they don't seem to make them smaller.</FONT></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT></STRONG> </DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=2>AF</FONT></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT></STRONG> </DIV> <DIV>----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com href="mailto:mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com">Farrell</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=pianotech@ptg.org href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">Pianotech List</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Saturday, June 10, 2006 7:49 PM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Piano with a hitch</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Where do the strings break?</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Seems to me that very first thing to do in a situation like this is to have the string scale evaluated by an qualified scaler and find out if the problem is in the scale. If the strings are too close to the breaking strength, then you know what needs to be done - rescale and restring.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Terry Farrell</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>PS - Is that picture distorted or is that really a 3-foot-long "grand" piano!?</FONT></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"> </DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=2>1890 Schiedmeyer 5' baby grand , recently restrung by a reputable company.</FONT></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=2>The owner calls me in because the previous tuner gave up trying to tune it; the new bass strings kept breaking and even his replacements broke.</FONT></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT></STRONG> </DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT></STRONG> </DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=2>AF</FONT></STRONG></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>