"Brittle" strings

[Daleboy@aol.com]

Hey Allen,
         That's a toughy, even for more experienced techs although they don't
don't deal with it as much in later careers as they can arrord to pick and
choose the gravy jobs. I recently had a client whose piano was purchased in
1948 and had not been tuned since date of purchase.......for real!! Pitch was
down about a fourth...strings rusty.....a candidate for "tuning, as is"
          I explained the whole story of pitch raise.....breaking
strings.....the whole nine yards and guess what? She wanted it brought to
A440....no matter the cost or how many strings went......she was "gonna start
takin' lessins and wawntud it raht". My heart sank!!!!! The thought ran
through my head to back out while I had the chance...
I predicted a very high breakage rate.
           Raised the pitch gradually.....note to note, then chromatically,
over a couple of visits and "never broke a string" and brought it to
A440.....no problem. I was stunned!!!!
             Just this week I raised the pitch 15 cents on a "quality" grand
piano about ten years old and broke two treble strings.......they looked
practicaly new......go figure. Certain manufacturers used higher than normal
scale tensions which contribute to excess breakage. Being familiar with those
can help in evaluating whether to raise old strings or not. Everybody seems
to have a "secret formula to aid with pitch
raises.......lubricants........backing off tension then raising. I'm not
aware of a scientific meathod for evaluating a needed pitch raise......just
time and experience.........Dale
P.S. Are you sure you're goin' to A440??