Ah, Terry! I get weak just thinking about this, given my mortal fear of breaking strings! This is a great experiment, I guess, but I'm glad nevertheless that I was a thousand miles away! :-) Regarding your last paragraph, there's just so much variation from piano to piano. Sure, some would take it, but others most definitely would not. Regards, Clyde Farrell wrote: > This post is perhaps most directed toward those having questions regarding > the feasibility of raising a one hundred year old very flat piano up to > standard pitch. > > My 12 year old son needed to do a science experiment and chose to > investigate the breaking strength of assorted sizes of piano strings. > Several sizes were installed at A4 and tightened until they broke, while > measuring pitch with the AccuTuner. > > The subject piano was a 1901 Everett grand that was clearly all original > strings and was 250 cents flat. All strings had quite a bit of surface > corrosion visible. > > The original A4 was tested first. It was brought up to 440 hertz, and then > up 100 cents, up another 100, up, up, up until it went to 75 cents sharp of > D5 before it broke! This old puppy went 560 cents sharp before breaking! New > strings were installed at the same location and went about 100 cents more > sharp before breaking. > > Believe me, I have had plenty of strings break on old pianos - and clearly > the strings on a very few old pianos will simply not hold the tension of > standard pitch. The point here is that old strings clearly have the > potential of holding standard pitch - and then some - and presumably many > will hold standard pitch just fine. I think we needn't be shy about > attempting to raise the pitch of an older (and otherwise sound) instrument > to standard pitch. > > Terry Farrell
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC