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<DIV>I'm surprised at how much tension it takes to break a piano string, eve=
n a
russty one. In the last week, I've worked on two pianos that were 100
cents or more flat, and in each case, there was substantial rust on the
strings.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The first was a "petite" Kimball that had taken a circuitous route=
to
CA from Florida, stopping for storage along the way. I should have tur=
ned
the job down, but it was "mom's" piano(mom had pased away not long ago),
and the new owner just wanted it to play "a little bit". I s=
aid
I'd do it, but that she needed to keep her expectations low. In
retrospect, and after seeing where and how she lives, I should have made oth=
er
recommendations, but the "sentimental value" part always gets me.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>After cleaning it inside and out, filing crust from the hammers, and do=
ing
a few minor repairs, I set about trying to get it to pitch. I might ha=
ve
considered tuning it "where it was" but it was so all-over-the-map pitchwise=
,
that I decided to crank it up to 440. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>There was plenty of rust on strings and pins, so I was a bit worried ab=
out
string breakage. As I began to yank up the bass, the tone improved
vastly. No string breakage until the very high treble, and then it was=
only 1 string. It took more time than any pitch adjustment I've ever
done. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Monday of this week, I went in to my son's pre-school to tune an old
Chickering console(Aeolian product) that had been donated by a staff
member. Opened up the case, cleaned out spiders and their domiciles,
dusted and vacuumed inside, got all the notes "working", and set about crank=
in'
her up. 100 cents flat, rust on strings and pins. "Oh well, they=
've
gotta know what the piano is SUPPOSED to sound like AT PITCH," I told myself=
,
donning my safety glasses and goose-juicing all the bearing points.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Same deal. Zero breakage this time, though. By the tim=
e I
got through the third pass of the treble, it sounded okay. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I was quite surprised to get through those two pianos virtually
unscathed. Don't know that I would have tried Michael Gambles' techniq=
ue
on either of these, though...</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Thanks for reading,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Dave Stahl</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
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