Bass strings on yamaha grand: It's the Moo Shoo Pork

[Billbrpt@AOL.COM]

 << Why would new Mapes strings eventually
 >suffer the same fate?  I have suspected structural problems, but have
 >not found anything so far.
  >>

I have only glanced at this thread because of being busy writing about other
things but i can tell you in no uncertain terms that if you put a grand piano
(where the open lid exposes the strings) in a restaurant, you will almost
certainly get dead (tubby) bass strings sooner or later.

It is environmental contamination.  It is the grease in the air from the
kitchen that slowly settles on the strings and builds up causing them to go
dead.  You can't really fix them either by cleaning and twisting although that
could help a little for a while.  They will go dead again as soon as there is
more buildup.

We don't realize how much stuff really is floating around.  But think about
it:  when you enter a place like that or even pass by on the sidewalk, you
smell the aroma from the kitchen.  Your nose is detecting the tiny droplets of
grease that is being generated in the kitchen.  It is *everywhere* in the
building, including inside the piano.

The string cover is the solution.  You need to restring the bass and also
thoroughly clean the plain wire termination points, then get a string cover
for the piano that will prevent those contaminants from contacting the
strings.

I had this problem about 20 years ago with a Kawai piano when Jim Harvey was
representing that company.  I was really at a loss to understand what was
happening with the piano but when I told him it was in a restaurant, he didn't
even hesitate to tell me what the culprit was.

There is a recording made by Dick Hyman on the Musical Heritage Society label
where he is playing at Chung's Chinese Restaurant.  The bass of the piano has
that characteristic tubby sound that all the Moo Shoo Pork served night after
night gives even the best bass strings on the best pianos.

Regards,
Bill Bremmer RPT
Madison, Wisconsin