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Bill,<br>
<br>
Have you called Young Chang?<br>
<br>
Wally Wilson, RPT<br>
Ravenswood, WV<br>
Columbus, OH Chapter<br>
<br>
At 12:12 PM 1/27/01 -0500, you wrote: <br>
<font face="arial" size=2><blockquote type=cite cite>List, <br>
<br>
Yes, it's true and I need some opinions on what to do about it. It is a
<br>
Young Chang Grand model G-185, only a few years old. It is meticulously
<br>
cared for but early in it's service, the pianist at this, shall we say,
<br>
"spirit filled" church complained of bass strings breaking and
shooting out <br>
of the piano. <br>
<br>
I have tried all of the usual. I filed the hammers. A monitor feeds
back <br>
sound to the pianist. When I explained to the church directors that it
is <br>
the "vigorous" style of playing that sometimes causes strings
to break, the <br>
pianist resigned. Things were OK for a while but now there is a young
lady <br>
who is firing scuds at the congregation faster than I can get there to
<br>
collect them, get them duplicated and replace them. <br>
<br>
She is quite upset and beside herself. She refuses to believe that it is
the <br>
*way* the piano is played that is causing this. She claims that she has
<br>
played the piano "all her life" and has never seen or even
heard of this <br>
happening. The piano has a string cover which she yanks out and throws
in <br>
the corner. She also says she has never played a piano with a
"blanket" in <br>
it and just "couldn't" play with it in there. I have firmly
insisted that at <br>
this point, it is a matter of public safety and won't have any effect on
the <br>
sound. <br>
<br>
I am thinking that these wound strings must have particularly high
tension. <br>
Does anyone know if this is so? Over the years I have heard of other
such <br>
instances that were cured by replacing the wound strings with a set of
<br>
lighter gauged, "happy" strings. It would seem to me that a
lower tension <br>
would solve the problem but in reading the recent post about
"replacement <br>
strings", I am confused. Some of these strings have been breaking
at the <br>
bass bridge termination point rather than the agraffe. That seems very
<br>
unusual to me. <br>
<br>
Should the manufacturer supply a new set of wound strings and if so,
should <br>
they be a set designed for lower tension? I presume that heavier gauged,
<br>
higher tension strings provide a bigger, bolder sound. What effect would
<br>
lower tension have? Just as a theoretical question, would tuning the
<br>
instrument to a lower pitch, say 100 cents lower prevent this from
happening <br>
(with the same gauge but a *new* set of strings)? (I do not view this as
an <br>
option, just a possibility that might work in some other circumstance).
(I <br>
also would not even consider altering the regulation to deliberately
produce <br>
less power). <br>
<br>
It is also interesting to note that to date, only wound strings have
broken, <br>
no plain wire. <br>
<br>
Bill Bremmer RPT <br>
Madison, Wisconsin</font><font size=3> </blockquote><br>
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