<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">A local theater booked an act from New York. The pianist advised that we should expect broken strings. He said he broke many strings wherever he played. The theater had 2 Yamaha U-1's. He broke 8 bass strings in 3 days on the pit piano, in spite of having his own speaker monitor.<div><br></div><div>The piano never broke a string before that time nor after.<br><div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div><br><blockquote type="cite"><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 20px/normal 'Book Antiqua'; color: rgb(34, 58, 168); "><span style="font: normal normal normal 20px/normal 'Corsiva Hebrew'; "><b> </b></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">Tom Gorley</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Kokonor; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#910f08">Registered Piano Technician </font></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal 'Book Antiqua'; color: rgb(62, 0, 147); "><span><b> </b></span></div></span></div></div></blockquote></div><div><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal 'Book Antiqua'; color: rgb(62, 0, 147); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "><br></span></div></span></div></div></div><div><br></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
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<br><div><div>On Sep 20, 2011, at 10:47 PM, Joseph Garrett wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div>Wim said: "When a string breaks at the pin or hitch pin, it's usually a<br>weak string. When it breaks at the agraff, it's usually hard playing. Do<br>you remember where this string was broken? As Jerry mentioned, the guy<br>might be practicing a particular piece of music where that note is hit<br>repeatedly. One suggestion is to check the voicing on that particular note.<br>It might be a little softer that the others around it, and the pianist is<br>hitting that note a little harder to create a louder sound, this putting<br>more strain on the string. "<br><br>Wim, <br>You are partially correct. When a string breaks at the agraffe or Capo,<br>etc. it can be many things. The last thing I would fault is the playing,<br>even tho I have known "musicians"(?) that could break strings at will.<br>These knot heads usually did it to get the "Night Club Owner" to fix/tune<br>the darned piano!<G> Or....simply because someone really pissed them off.<br>The first things to look at are structural. If all appears to be o.k., then<br>I'd check scale and hammers. Next regulation and then the possible "ham<br>handed" player. I once had a 85 lb. female entertainer type that completely<br>destroyed a Yamaha P22. Two reasons she did it: 1. she hated the gig and<br>the piano! 2. because she could! The lady had "chops"!!! One of the main<br>reasons these types of pianos self-destruct, is poor design, IMO. There<br>seems to be the brunt of piano design, nowadays, is to make them more<br>powerful. They try to do this by increasing the mass of the Sound board.<br>Then, to get that moving they increase the mass of the bridges and greatly<br>increase the tension! THEN, to add insult to injury, they put rock hard<br>hammers on the damned piano to get it to overcome all the built in problems<br>they put into the design! Stupid in my not so humble opinion. Then, they<br>say it's a "paino". Bullpuckey! It's a PSO and nothling more. Any aural<br>similarity to a real piano is purely coincidental! Lastly, we are asked to<br>make it "sound" correct! Yeah, like that's going to happen! 1st most people<br>of today don't have a clue of what a real piano is supposed to sound like.<br>Why? Because the music they listen to is so distorted by the recording<br>industry and the piano manufacturers. Even the top end pianos sound like<br>crap, most of the time. They need someone, ( a miracle man, so to speak),<br>like Andre to even make it slightly palatable. Tis' the "sound" of the<br>times. Sigh!!<br>That's the way I see it. (Definately why no one has ever asked me to design<br>a piano.<G>)<br>Regards,<br>Joe<br><br><br>Joe Garrett, R.P.T.<br>Captain of the Tool Police<br>Squares R I<br><br></div></blockquote></div><br></div></body></html>