<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en">
<html>
Bill,
<p>I must say that this is one of the most amusing piano stories I have
heard in a long time. I don't know if I could contribute to a solution
more than what has already been suggested but you at least made my day.
Shooting bass string missiles at the congregation in church.... now THAT'S
funny!! Is their any particular hymn that they play that most likely
tends to cause this?
<p>Rob Goodale, RPT
<br>Las Vegas, NV
<br>
<p>Billbrpt@AOL.COM wrote:
<blockquote TYPE=CITE><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>List,</font></font>
<p><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>Yes, it's true and I need
some opinions on what to do about it. It is a</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>Young Chang Grand model
G-185, only a few years old. It is meticulously</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>cared for but early in it's
service, the pianist at this, shall we say,</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>"spirit filled" church complained
of bass strings breaking and shooting out</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>of the piano.</font></font>
<p><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>I have tried all of the usual.
I filed the hammers. A monitor feeds back</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>sound to the pianist.
When I explained to the church directors that it is</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>the "vigorous" style of
playing that sometimes causes strings to break, the</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>pianist resigned.
Things were OK for a while but now there is a young lady</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>who is firing scuds at the
congregation faster than I can get there to</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>collect them, get them duplicated
and replace them.</font></font>
<p><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>She is quite upset and beside
herself. She refuses to believe that it is the</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>*way* the piano is played
that is causing this. She claims that she has</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>played the piano "all her
life" and has never seen or even heard of this</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>happening. The piano
has a string cover which she yanks out and throws in</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>the corner. She also
says she has never played a piano with a "blanket" in</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>it and just "couldn't" play
with it in there. I have firmly insisted that at</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>this point, it is a matter
of public safety and won't have any effect on the</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>sound.</font></font>
<p><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>I am thinking that these
wound strings must have particularly high tension.</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>Does anyone know if this
is so? Over the years I have heard of other such</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>instances that were cured
by replacing the wound strings with a set of</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>lighter gauged, "happy"
strings. It would seem to me that a lower tension</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>would solve the problem
but in reading the recent post about "replacement</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>strings", I am confused.
Some of these strings have been breaking at the</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>bass bridge termination
point rather than the agraffe. That seems very</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>unusual to me.</font></font>
<p><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>Should the manufacturer supply
a new set of wound strings and if so, should</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>they be a set designed for
lower tension? I presume that heavier gauged,</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>higher tension strings provide
a bigger, bolder sound. What effect would</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>lower tension have?
Just as a theoretical question, would tuning the</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>instrument to a lower pitch,
say 100 cents lower prevent this from happening</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>(with the same gauge but
a *new* set of strings)? (I do not view this as an</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>option, just a possibility
that might work in some other circumstance). (I</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>also would not even consider
altering the regulation to deliberately produce</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>less power).</font></font>
<p><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>It is also interesting to
note that to date, only wound strings have broken,</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>no plain wire.</font></font>
<p><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>Bill Bremmer RPT</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>Madison, Wisconsin</font></font></blockquote>
</html>