<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en"> <html> <body bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> Greetings to all! I have been following this topic somewhat. Our church's M & H, as some of you may know, breaks strings like crazy.  This is a problem related to hard hammers, improper work done, etc.  My playing doesn't help matters any either.  I don't see how the damper pedal can attribute to string breakage.  Can someone please explain this?  Here is another question I have... How come I break strings so easily on the M & H, and I can practice and play the living daylights out of a 1901 Story and Clark upright (original parts), and not even stir the tuning job?  Now I understand that the M & H needs work done on it to prevent string breakage, longer tuning stability, etc., but this Story and Clark has been sitting and hardly had any work done to it (a tuning once a year), much longer than the M & H has or ever will. One more question in this missive... . What can cause a hammer shank to crack from dynamic playing rather than the string breaking? Antares wrote: <blockquote TYPE=CITE>  <blockquote>If a hammer is unusually heavy will it contribute to string breakage? Michael  </blockquote> Hello Michael, When strings break it is (mostly) always due to a few basic technical conditions, or, when you have a butcher, but in that case I'll close all books. The technical conditions causing string breakage (on an otherwise normal and healthy instrument : 1. a bad regulation 2. a totally worn set of hammers 3. a long overdue voicing 4. corroded or old strings If the strings are old, you need to replace them in any case, but usually it is a combination of the first three. As you mentioned before, the hammers in the instrument are unusually heavy. That means : 1. the wrong regulation because the action must compensate for too much weight. 2. Too much hammer mass, which will act as a sledge hammer, playing pianissimo is out of the question and too much energy is spent in general. 3. Pianists feel very uncomfortable under these conditions and they find it hard to keep control and thus, it is more easy to break strings (even more so when the pianist is a banger anyway) A last and > very < helpful rule for all technicians is : a beautiful tone is : 1. a perfect regulation 2. a perfect tuning 3. a perfect voicing On an instrument that is not too old and coming from a good and decent "house" it is not so common that strings will break. However, even with well manufactured and fairly young instruments it is certainly possible to break da strings, but the locations where these breakings occur are usually always the same : They are conservatories and music schools. Both types of schools never spend enough money on technical support. I personally have quite some experience with music schools in general and I have worked at the Amsterdam Conservatory for a very long time. Especially at Conservatories you can put a mattrass for yourself under the grand. In Amsterdam the doors open at 8.30 am and close at 11.30 pm. In weekends too students are allowed to make use of the fascilities, resulting in a respectable Monthly bill for tuning and technical "injuries" plus...the usual amount of strings "they" managed to break. Actually, it would be much nicer to "take care" of one concert Steinway a day with a golden tuning hammer and a platinum tuning fork, a raison de.... well...what shall we make of it...600 US dollars a day? lunches and parking fees included? plus daily applause? what? Friendly greetings, Antares  </blockquote> </body> </html>