<!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>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><IMG alt="" hspace=0 src="cid:001401c68cb8$d0df6410$0100007f@Aspire" align=baseline border=0></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT></STRONG> </DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=2>Triple wound copper on the single strings suggests to me that there is too much mass and therefore requires the tension to be higher to bring it up to the right pitch so much so that the tension goes beyond the breaking strain of the core wire. Am I correct with this theory?</FONT></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT></STRONG> </DIV> <DIV><IMG alt="" hspace=0 src="cid:001501c68cb8$d0df6410$0100007f@Aspire" align=baseline border=0></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT></STRONG> </DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=2>I tell the owner that I will detune the piano to a lower pitch, A425Hz. I started lowering the pitch of the tenor section and all was well, but as soon as I started lowering the bass section, BANG!  Bass strings that I hadn't even touched went flying across the room. Seems to me that slacking the tension on just one string was taken up by the surrounding ones that were already at breaking point. </FONT></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT></STRONG> </DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=2>And while we're about it here is a picture of the hitch pins. Is it really necessary to have them at such an acute angle?</FONT></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT></STRONG> </DIV> <DIV><IMG alt="" hspace=0 src="cid:001601c68cb8$d0df6410$0100007f@Aspire" align=baseline border=0></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT></STRONG> </DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=2>AF</FONT></STRONG></DIV></BODY></HTML>