<HTML>In a message dated 3/20/0= 3 5:50:11 PM Pacific Standard Time, HazenBannister@cs.com writes: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-= LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">   Today I had to= tune an older console Chickering,and over pulled it 4 cents,as it was below= standard pitch.I satrted pitching it from AO,with my accutuner,tuned a coup= le of notes,and bamm,a broken string.A few more notes,another broken string,= and another.I let the pitch down first,even used a lubricate around the hitc= h pins,and on the coils.I have never felt a string respond in this manner,as= ,I would let the pitch down,and it would go down smooth.But as soon as I tri= ed to bring it back up,it wouldn't budge,and if it did,bamm.Even a half step= low,it still would not come back smoothly,also this was in the low bass onl= y.Has anyone ever run across anything like this.I have been tuning since the= seventies,and have never had this kind of problem.The strings were dead sou= nding,and he decided to restring the bass,thank goodness,as I was about stum= ped.When I went to take off the bottom string,it broke at the coil. Thanks, Hazen Bannister </BLOCKQUOTE> Hazen, I had a similar problem with a Chickering quarter grand, only the cause = was evident.  The majority of the strings were rusted.  Unfortunat= ely, the owners couldn't afford a restringing.  They called me back to = replace the broken ones, which I did, but I have a feeling they'll call me a= gain, and soon. It's a helpless feeling when you hear that twang, isn't it? Dave</HTML>