many topics

[ATodd@UH.EDU]

Richard,

   Just thought I'd add my two cents worth to the restringing
conversations.
   There had been some string breakage on our Hamburg D in the
recital hall prior to my arrival here at UH. So one of the first
things I did was to travel and burn (which was badly needed), file
the hammers, regulate, voice etc. After this I had very little
problem with string breakage for some time. Then it gradually started
again. Finally, in one week, I had strings break right before a
recital I was tuning for. That made up my mind. I don't like panic
string replacement or sometimes having to retune them at
intermission.
   So as soon as there was a long enough break in the hall usage, I
restrung the top two sections. Because of the time restraints, I went
ahead and went to the next size pin because I could do it faster
than reusing the old pins. I only reamed with a drill bit slightly
larger than the original pins so that I would have fairly tight pins.
I figure this will have to be done again at some point and the next
time, if I don't restring the entire piano, I will reuse the old pins
and they should still be fairly tight.
   As far as amount of time is concerned, considering removal,
reaming, installation, coil setting, tunings, string leveling,
hammer fitting, etc., I would allow AT LEAST one full day. If you can
work fairly fast and don't have the usual interruptions that a
university technician has. I took a little more.
   One other comment. Because I have always learned most of my
lessons the hard way, don't make the mistake of stringing a metric
wire piano with american wire. I don't know how much difference it
would make, but because I tend to be a "purist" I ordered some
metric wire and re-restrung the top two sections at the first break
we had. See. I told you I had a reason for going to the next size
pin! And I still have tight pins in that area. I backed them out a
couple of turns, and made my coils on a dummy tuning pin and slipped
them on over the pin. Just be sure not to introduce a twist in the
wire.
   Hope this helps a little.

Avery Todd
University of Houston
atodd@uh.edu

***********************************************************************

   This job is a test. It is only a test. Had it been a real job,
there would have been bonuses, raises and promotions.

***********************************************************************