<html> <head> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; = charset=iso-8859-1"> <meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 10 (filtered)"> <style>  </style> </head> <body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple> <div class=Section1> Friends: I have a = Bosendorfer Imperial 9’ grand that has been restrung. The bass string replacement sets I’ve = gotten from the string company haven’t been satisfactory, and I’m wondering what to do about it. Here’s the = history. The first set was = made by a company in Canada (won’t name) who was recommended by our associate store’s technician. = (The piano is for sale at the store where I work). I sent the original = strings for them to duplicate. They were very conscientious about making them exactly = the same as the old ones. It seems that the old strings had windings VERY close = to the bridge pins. Since we (at the store) were concerned about some local = tech finding this and badmouthing the piano (and possibility of buzzing on = the bridge pins) we decided to reorder the strings and make the windings end farther from the bridge. I spoke to the winder, and he suggested = sending a pattern, which I did. Now, they had the old strings and the pattern = to work with. The new strings arrived, and were installed. Several of the = strings had windings that came extremely close to the agraffes, many less than = ¼”. Some were almost touching. When I called to complain, they said I had = made the pattern wrong. Ok, maybe so. But, thankfully, he was willing to = remake about half a dozen of the closest ones, at no charge. They were = satisfactory, but after installing a couple, I realized that the rest of the strings were stretching (it took a few months before I installed the new = replacements). The other strings had stretched so much, the windings on them also came very = close to the agraffes. At this point, I decided to go to another string = company (U.S. maker) who said he had the string scale already (36 string bass scale). I = ordered the full set, and they arrived a few days ago. I found that this set was = exactly like the original set the Canadian company had made, with the windings = so close to the bridge pins, and the windings near the agraffes. I = didn’t install the strings, actually, but I could see that they were too long, and = would have come too close to the agraffes when pulled to pitch. At this point, I = don’t know if I should expect the American string company to take back the strings. It’s not = their fault, necessarily, nor is it mine, since they assured me that they had = made lots of these and had no complaints. I’m inclined to use a = tape to measure the distances from hitch pin (I got one of those special tape = measures at a convention), and have custom strings made from the actual = numbers. But, I’m not a rebuilder, nor do I have much experience with these Bosies, so any suggestions y’all might have would be gratefully appreciated. = Thanks, = Paul McCloud = San Diego     </div> </body> </html>