Wound Wire breakage in churchs

[Brian Trout]

Hi Matthew,

It sure would be interesting to see what the scale of this piano looks like.
(Not something you can see from a picture.)

Is it a new piano?  or a rebuilt one?  Is the scale original? or modified?

Roslau wire is no doubt good quality wire, but I wouldn't lump all 'bulk'
purchases of piano wire in the 'less than desirable' category.  You can buy
any wire in bulk, including Roslau.  There are some who would say they can
do better than Roslau.  I'd rather not go there right now, though.

Things like the shape, mass, and hardness of the hammers can have an impact,
and it sounds like those things are being addressed.  The things that would
concern me the most are the maximum breaking tension of the wire (which
could be determined with a little basic information, a tape measure, a
micrometer, and some math,),  the condition of the agraffes, (shape of hole,
in particular,)  and nicks in the wire (as in somebody tapped down all of
the strings with a steel screwdriver at the bridges and the hitch pins and
got a little too aggressive with the pounding).

Strings don't ordinarily break for no reason.  And there's a lot of pianos
out there that rarely break a string that get the living daylights pounded
out of them regularly.

By all means, if you have some particular numbers, measurements, and figures
you'd like to send along, there are a number of the list members who might
be able to give some very solid input, and perhaps move towards a solution
for your situation.

Best of luck.

Brian Trout
Quarryville, PA
btrout@desupernet.net



----- Original Message -----
From: Matthew J. Todd <pianotech88@juno.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 1999 7:13 PM
Subject: Re: Wound Wire breakage in churchs


> Well, when one thing doesn't work, go and do something else to pinpoint
> this problem.  Seven RPT's in the area told me that my playing is not the
> cause for this massive string breakage.  And if it was, I would go out
> and buy a Steinway to relinquish the problem once and for all.  Maybe if
> this technician would quit using wire bought by the bulk and try the
> German made Roulau (sp?) wire, the problem will be solved.