<html> Hi Byron, Please write to me at the office with the model and serial number so that I can check warranty status and history on this piano.  dmannino@kawaius.com Some pianists break strings, and the only answer is service-service-service.  Once a piano is a few years old like this all of the strings in the treble area will be fatigued, and will continue to break until some action is taken. Here is the best solution: 1. Shape the hammers, getting rid of all string grooves.  Make sure the strike surface is nicely rounded, in the usual good slighlty 'pointed' tip (in other words, flatten the shoulder area slightly as you file). 2. Replace all affected wires (usually sizes 14 - 16) with new.  Kawai recommends either Mapes International Gold or Röslau blue label wire. These two things will totally stop string breakage for a while.  How quickly it starts to return will depend on how well the hammers are kept shaped, and just how hard the pianist is working the piano. While the strings are out (I usually replace 2 unisons at a time) clean up the capo bar with an emery cloth strip or a small file.  The tone will be improved by a smooth surface. Lastly, advise the pianist that heavy use of anything causes it to wear faster and require additional service.   The hammers should be shaped at least annually - I have a few private customers who are string breakers (not all with Kawai pianos, either!), and I shape their hammers lightly twice a year.  They very rarely break strings as long as the hammer shape is maintained. To respond to a few other comments: - Capo bar shape will not affect string breakage.  It will affect tone certainly, but the shape of the bar, especially on a Kawai which has a rather soft iron casting, does not affect the weakening of the string in Kawai's research. - It is pretty much impossible for there to be defective wire of multiple sizes in one piano.  Individual strings can have weak spots occasionally, and it is conceivable that there would be a bad batch of wire of a particular size, but getting 3 or 4 wire sizes in one piano that are bad is  statistically, well, very highly unlikely! As I said above, please do write to me at the office with the particulars. Don Mannino RPT At 12:52 PM 2/4/2003 -0800, you wrote: <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>I recently tuned a four-year-old Kawai GE3 and ended up replacing 13 broken strings  (26 unisons). I found out that the client has broken twenty some strings since she bought the piano. She is a tiny (100 lbs) third year performance piano University student that is studying under a Russian instructor. The Russian instructor possibly explains the banging technique that she has acquired. She told me that she has broken strings on other pianos. All of the broken strings are in the high mid-treble and low high-treble and broken at the capo bar and some of the replaced strings have been broken.  <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> I realize that this piano would probably not have any problems in 95 percent of the homes it would be placed in because the players would not pound so. However I'm wondering:   1. Could it be a flaw in the piano design or construction?   2. If anything can be done to make these strings less susceptible to breakage?   Any insight would be appreciated. These strings are covered by warranty but the situation is not good because she has to practice on a piano with missing strings or newly replaced (constantly going flat) strings.   Thanks   Byron Quam piano tuning and repair Vancouver BC</blockquote></html>