Plateless Wonder

[Ron Nossaman]

>Its been restrung with new pins (new string material includeing new
>bass strings) and its been given new key tops...the one piece with
>fronts sort..
>
>What alarmed me and why I am consulting you all is that the fellow
>who did the work pulled it all the way up to 440.. Its been at that
>pitch I understand for about 2 months and has been shipped up from
>the south of Norway to boot in that time. I am going back in a
>couple days to bring the pitch down but I wanted to get suggestions
>as to how far to take this down. The piano was built around 1880,
>there is an iron bar to hold the hitch pins for the bass and lowest
>treble notes. Otherwise all hitch pins are in wood. I also would
>like to know a bit more what to tell her about what damage has
>probably been done and what to expect further. At present it is
>reasonably in tune at 440... suprisingly enough.


Banished one,
I wonder if the rewhateverer reproduced the original scale, or modified it
for more or less tension, and what kind of tensions you're actually dealing
with. Looking at a scale I just took from an old upright player that's in
for rebuild, a string at around 40%break is 141lbs @440, and 138lbs @435.
That's around a 2% tension change, or 800 lbs on a 40,000lb scale. If the
overall scale tensions are small enough, it might not be hurt at all. Then
again, it might be dangerous to be around. It depends on the amount of
tension it was designed to carry in different areas of the scale, and the
section tensions it is currently carrying. Don't know where to take it if
we don't know where it's at.
Ron N