Restringing

[Brian Trout]

Hi Martin,

I'm sorry I threw that one at you, "Bellyman felt" that is.  What I should
have done is elaborate a little more of what I was meaning.  I may have used
the term wrong, as well, I'm not exactly sure.

What I was trying to say was that you may want to keep the old felt (and
sometimes card stock underneath used to make it thicker) that is placed in
various places on the plate of the piano, usually under the strings. (Not to
use it again, but so you'll have a pattern of sorts to make new felts, if
that's what you decide to do.)  It's different in almost every piano, so
there's not necessarily a concise answer.  You might find felt under the
strings on the tuning pin side of the front duplexes.  You might find felt
all the way down the scale in one form or another in the same area, forward
of the tuning pins.  You might find bushing cloth at the plate bearing point
back closest to the hitch pin.  There might be hitch pin punchings.  There
might be a thick piece of felt between the plate and stretcher.  Of course
there's string braid, too.  All that stuff.  That's what I was getting at.
Some pianos have very little felt.  Some have more.  Some will have hitch
pin punchings, some will not...   And no one says you have to put it all
back -exactly- the way you found it.  On better pianos, I usually do.  On
lesser pianos, I might use a little more (let's call it) creativity.

As for bass strings, there are a couple of ways to do it.  You can box up
the set (putting them on a wire at the loops to keep them all in order,
noting of course any missing ones with a card punching so the string maker
will know to make one), and ship them to a string maker.  This is probably
about the easiest way.  I'm not sure it's the best.  Another way is to make
a paper pattern, such as is illustrated in the Schaff piano supply catalog.
(page 75, I think).  Another way, which I haven't done, but have been
considering, is to send the paper pattern to a string maker, and give enough
detail of the treble of the piano that he could design the complete scale
for me.  Jon page had given me the name of a guy in Canada that does this
for him, and the price is certainly reasonable.  Maybe he'll chime in.
Danny at GC Piano? maybe?  I could probably find it if I had a bit more
time.  I gotta run.

I hope that helps.

Good luck,

Brian Trout
Quarryville, PA
btrout@desupernet.net




----- Original Message -----
From: Martin Dubow <tuner@mediaone.net>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Friday, February 11, 2000 12:49 AM
Subject: Re: Restringing


> Brian,
>
> Thanks much for your thoughts. What's a bellyman felt?
> Also, would you know where I can find an illustration on
> how to make a pattern of the bass strings so as to order
> the correct sizes?
>
> Martin