<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1555" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY id=role_body style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: Arial" bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 topMargin=7 rightMargin=7><FONT id=role_document face=Arial color=#000000 size=2> <DIV>I'm not sure of how much this helps, but before tuning older pianos, or pianos where I suspect a bass string might break, I put a drop of CLP on the string at the bearing point on the upper plate. Also, I learned the trick of lowering the pitch just a bit before pulling the pitch up during tuning. I'm thinking of keeping a little book on which makes and models - -including serial numbers -- give me trouble with broken strings, so that I could </DIV> <DIV>avoid future problems by not raising pitch on these models. For instance, the Sohmer 34-96 is an excellent piano, but many of them are prone to broken strings after the treble break, depending on when they were manufactured.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Jesse Gitnik</DIV> <DIV>NYC</DIV> <DIV>Since 1980</DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>