<HTML>      List         Had an interesting and perplexing experience recently, I installed a new board for a very well known S.F. area tech/rebuilder. This piano was a stwy o. I set up the board,bearing and plate and they did the stringing.     After the piano was strung he called and expressed some disappointment with the sustain which I found strange because that is not usually an issue with properly set up rib crowned boards. He went on to say that they were working on two "os" at the same time. the other "o" had the original board. When I asked him where the sustain problems were he said all over. That was a giant clue because as you all know stwys do not have sustain problems IN the bass even if the board looks like a venetian blind. It was also the same complaint on the other "o"          He then stated that both pianos were strung with the same bass strings and both pianos received an unoriginal string scaling designed by Sandersons. He said that the original board "o"sounded much better before it was torn down than it did at present.     Having too much tension in a bass scale will choke the sustain in any piano. Having too much tension in the bass or  treble cannot only change the tone color but choke it as well.   When I spoke at length with his shop foreman he said that the wire size on noter 88 had gone from a no.13 to a 14 size wire. That's a huge jump in tension. The 2 top trebles apparently received this same whole size increase and was the most choked in both pianos.   I explained to them , as Del and Rons have stated many times, that a rib scale is designed for a particular string scale. Yes, it is possible to make string scale changes on an existing board. Many of us have done it but, if the tension changes are too great the tone and sustain will be altered in a negative way ,ask me how I know.  Scaling is a wonderful tool  but some times it's better not to mess with success and the stwy O doesn't , I.M.H.O.,need drastic changes in the stringing  scale.    In stwys capstan lines float because the block placement does and so does the  bridge placement. If the length of note 88 is measured on several different models say 6 different "Os" the string length often be quite short and vary by as much as 1/4".(This is also true of other stwy models) These less than 2" speaking lengths reduce tension and therefore volume especially in the top octaves. I have been routinely rotating the top of the bridge back when installing a new board to accommodate a speaking length of 2". This small change makes a modest increase in tension using the original scale and improves power and projection in the top octave or so. All that to say that changing  to higher scale tension in this case had a compounding negative consequence because of the excessive tension of the new Sanderson scale.     Anyway a cut to the chase. The client restrung both "o"s with mapes Bass strings and original scales. The sustain , power and sonority  returned . From what I understand the client had a  discussion with Dave S. who was Quote rude and unprofessional. He did however agree to refund his money for strings. But wow the loss of time and labor cost. My client said that this was obviously Not the first time that Mr. S. has received these complaints   Is this anybody else's experience?     </HTML>