<HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=US-ASCI= I"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2722" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY id=role_body style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #000000; BORDER-T= OP-STYLE: none; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; BORDER-RIGHT-STYLE: none; BORDER-LE= FT-STYLE: none; BORDER-BOTTOM-STYLE: none" bottomMargin=7 leftMargin== 7 topMargin=7 rightMargin=7> <P><BR>As a pain in the ass as it is to come back, I've quit using univ= ersals and always mail the string to Mapes for duplicating.  = It does cost the customer more but, imho, it matches the other string = much better.   </P> <P>D.I...<BR><BR></P> <DIV style="PADDING-RIGHT: 5px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 5p= x; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 3px solid; PADDING-TOP: 5px"> <HR> Original message<BR>From: Piannaman@aol.com<BR>To: pianotech@ptg.org<BR= >Received: 10/2/2005 6:39:31 PM<BR>Subject: some days you get what you = ask for<BR><BR><FONT id=role_document face=Arial color=#000000 si= ze=2> <DIV align=left>List,</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Friday was certainly an interesting day on the job.  Fir= st piano was an old Erhard upright, a nice old box made in 1919, pretty= good shape.  It had a broken high treble string on it, which I'd = been aware of, and I replaced it no problem.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Next piano, Acrosonic, circa 1950s.  Pitch raise, twang, G#2 = wound bicord snapped. A perfect candidate for one of the universal= bass strings a lug around.  As usual, spinning off excess copper = was the most time consuming part of this job.  Again, no real prob= lem.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I was thinking about how much I've improved in various repairs, th= anks to many tips gleaned from this list and elsewhere in the PTG.&nbsp= ; This type of repair was once something I dreaded, now it's just somet= hing I do in the line of duty.  "But," I told myself, "don't get c= ocky.  How long's it been since you've replaced a long wire in an = understrung section of a piano?"  It had been awhile.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Which brings me to the next piano:  Steinway, a regular clien= t, a nemesis piano that always finds a way to lengthen the appointment = beyond an acceptable length.  A 1915 or so M re-whatevered badly a= couple of decades ago.  I was hoping for the best, but it was the= usual 8-10 cent late-summer pitch raise.  No problem, at least un= til I got to A3.  Twang.  The A#3-A3 wire snapped.  Went= to the car, got stringing stuff including tube to get string onto hitc= h pin.  In the failing light of the day, I got the job done, but t= ime would have been saved had I brought in my shop light so I could see= better to route the wire through the bridge pins.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The upside:  3 strings on the day, no bloody finger tips.</DI= V> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The weirdness:  Haven't had a string break in a few months.&n= bsp; Why did they all gang up on me on one day???</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Tip #1:  putting some tension on the wire makes it MUCH easie= r to get the string placed properly around the bridge pins in the under= strung areas.  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Tip #2:  Lighting is a good thing when doing this sort of job= !</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Thanks for reading,</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Dave Stahl</DIV></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>