<HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>Re: String breakage in relation to hammer massAND MORE</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF"> <BLOCKQUOTE>If a hammer is unusually heavy will it contribut= e to string breakage?   Michael </BLOCKQUOTE>Hello Michael, When strings break it is (mostly) always due to a few basic technical condi= tions, or, when you have a butcher, but in that case I'll close all books.<B= R> The technical conditions causing string breakage (on an otherwise normal an= d 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 i= t 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 wei= ght. 2. Too much hammer mass, which will act as a sledge hammer, playing pianiss= imo 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 &quo= t;house" it is not so common that strings will break. However, even with well manufactured and fairly young instruments it is cer= tainly 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 spen= d 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 week= ends 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 St= einway a day with a golden tuning hammer and a platinum tuning fork, a raiso= n 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 </BODY> </HTML>