<!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 6.00.5730.11" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=2>Yesterday I was tuning a 100 year old Bechstein where most of the single bass strings were dead. So remembering what was mentioned on the list a while back, I proceeded to lower their tension and beat the hell out of them by pounding on the keys. The trick worked; you can actually hear the point at which they come right while beating them. The strings suddenly start sounding metallic. I can only surmise that the strings are dead because they are so stiff. Pounding them seems to release the coils or windings and makes the strings more pliable.</FONT></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT></STRONG> </DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=2>AF</FONT></STRONG></DIV></BODY></HTML>