"Brittle" strings

Wippen@aol.com Wippen@aol.com
Sun, 19 Nov 1995 12:58:29 -0500


Allen Leigh wrote:

>Most of my piano tuning is on older pianos that haven't been >tuned for
quite
>a few years.  It is common for these pianos to be 70-120 >cents flat.
 (snip)
> Sometimes when I try to raise their
>pitch, they feel elastic for a few cents change and then >become hard.(snip)
> I've had success in raising their pitch by lowing the
>tension, raising it, lowing it, raising it, etc.(snip)
>Am I correct in my interpretation that the strings are going brittle?

Allen,
I'm not sure that brittle is just the right word but it is fact that strings
with a lot of age and possible corrosion(rust) on them can and do seem to
refuse to move smoothly over the various friction points,e.i., V-bar,pressure
bar,bridge pins,etc.
Often, if too much rust exists the string is almost "welded" to whatever it
is in contact with, even stringing felt.

You are right in lowering the pitch before raising. This helps to break loose
these "welds" and ,if you are lucky, preclude some string breakage.

Also, old strings probably are near their elastic limit and perhaps have
changed in their molecular make-up.  Maybe one of the more scientific minds
on the list will comment on this??
Good luck... I'm thankful that I don't have to do too many tunings on old
pianos like you describe.

Paul Dempsey
Marshall University
wippen@aol.com



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