[CAUT] Flight of Broken Bass String

[Wimblees at aol.com]

In a message dated 3/25/06 7:39:53 P.M. Central Standard Time,  
jlolson at cal.net writes:

But  seriously, now I shudder when I think of all the curious boys 
and girls  leaning over the end of a grand, peering down at the 
strings as I  performed a pitch raise, with me encouraging them: 
"Yes, yes, that's okay,  you can't hurt anything!  Go ahead and 
take a closer look at those  bass strings.  Aren't they pretty?"
 
First of all, I have had several bass strings break, with the same results.  
As far as anyone watching from the tail end of a piano,l I would discourage 
that  in a minute. One time I had a pilot get his face down to rim level to see 
what I  was doing as I was replacing a set of bass strings. I stopped dead in 
my  tracks. 



I  had another thought when reading these accounts of 
string-escapees: What  liability would we have for damage or 
injury caused by them?  I'm  fairly sure most of us would agree 
that we aren't responsible for a string  breaking in the course of 
a tuning -- at least, I hope we agree -- but I  can't imagine a 
customer accepting "Oh, sorry, about knocking out little  Johnny's 
eyes" or "You say that was a one-of-a-kind Renoir?  Not  anymore!"
That is why you need to carry a 1 million dollar liability insurance  policy. 
It won't prevent the strings from breaking, but it will pay the lawyer  to 
defend you in case of a law suit. 
 


I know  that from now on I'll be tuning grands with their lids 
firmly down (I  guess I should count myself lucky for not having 
destroyed anyone or  anything thus far).
You don't have to lower the lid, but just be careful who is standing behind  
the piano, or make sure that Renoir isn't in the line of fire. 



I'm  also wondering if the larger grands would have more 
"explosive" potential  when it comes to bass string breakage.  I 
would assume  so.

Best,

Jeff O.


I don't think a larger grand will shoot farther than a short grand, but  that 
would be an interesting experiment. It would be an  interesting technical at 
a chapter meeting, or the convention. 
 
Wim 
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