High treble string breakage

[S. Brady]

On Tue, 5 Sep 1995, Israel Stein wrote:

> that her family could play too). Over the past half-year or so strings in
> the top 2 octaves have been breaking on a regular basis. My inclination is
> to attribute this to metal fatigue - ten years of heavy use, her
> repertoire (which consists of lots of contemporary works involving a lot
> of loud playing in the top range of the piano) and her rather firm technique
> suggest this to me.

      If it's been several years since the capo was filed and the
treble restrung, this is definitely just normal fatigue. I had a client
once who had a Baldwin SD-10 which broke strings regularly from the time
it was new. We thought it might just be her. She traded it in on a new
SF-10, and didn't have a broken string for years. If there's a problem
with the capo causing string breakage, it'll manifest itself in pretty
short order, as it did when your client's piano was new.



Steve Brady, RPT        "The most expert and rapid tuners are...
University of Washington       possessed of a highly excitable,
sbrady@u.washington.edu        nervous, and emotional temperament,
                         verging on the border of insanity at times."
                              -Daniel Spillane, The Tuner's Guide