Pulling Some Strings

[David M. Porritt]

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Alan:

Make a tool.  Take two brass tubes, long enough to reach where you
need it, solder them together.  Thread the string down one tube, and
back up the other.  Leaving lots of extra wire (piano wire is cheap)
make a bend in the one end.  Now you have the string as you need it
in the piano running through this pair of tubes with LOTS of extra
wire hanging out the top end.  At the site, push the twin tubes
through, hitch the bend on the hitch pin, put a clamp on the hitch
pin to keep the wire on there, slowly pull the twin tubes out,
placing the wires around the bridge pins, then pull the twin tubes
all the way off.  Now all you have left is cutting the wires to the
approximately correct length and getting it under the pressure bar.  

To keep customer relations good, wait until you are in the car and at
least a block away before you scream out your view of drop actions!!!

dave
*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********

On 11/18/2002 at 10:34 PM Alan R. Barnard wrote:
oooooooh (rhymes with "poo"). what about the problem of keeping them
from crossing? Getting them hitched or bridged wasn't the problem,
it's keeping them straight up and onto the pins ....

Alan Barnard
Salem, MO
----- Original Message ----- 
From: Greg Newell 
To: Pianotech 
Sent: Monday, November 18, 2002 10:04 PM
Subject: Re: Pulling Some Strings


Yeah, and a brake line from the auto parts store works well too and
only costs a couple bucks!
Greg Newell

At 10:31 PM 11/18/2002 -0500, you wrote:

    Al:
    Try a tool called "The Stringer" from Pianotek.  It is an
extendable brass tube that the strings thread into, the tube then
goes in place from the top of the piano following the space where the
old strings came out of.  Hook the new strings that you have made
into a "U" over the hitch pin, carefully pull the stringer off the
strings, and voila!  They are in the proper place and cannot cross
over each other or get out of position.  It is well worth the $40 and
works great on any piano.  The lunch sounded great!
    Mike Kurta

----- Original Message ----- 

From: Alan R. Barnard 

To: pianotech@ptg.org 

Sent: Monday, November 18, 2002 9:54 PM

Subject: Pulling Some Strings


Any tips for replacing plain wire strings, tenor section, under the
bass strings, with the appropriate bridge section also under the bass
strings and directly behind the bottom rail on a drop action (sticker
wires) piano? 


  
The customer was nice enough to hold flashlight, hold the wire ends
and above, etc. No problem getting the lower end down and onto the
pin (used the ol' safety pin trick) and, actually, getting the
strings on the bridge properly was not too bad (thin screwdriver and
thin needle-nosed pliers). But those danged wires want to cross each
other every which way and tangle up with the stupid dampers .....
ooog. Had them on, under the pressure bar, coiled and then .... only
when I started tensioning the second one did I find out they were
still crossed ....


  
I'd hate to remove & replace a drop action just for one silly string
....


  
Good part! This lady (senior citizen) gave me a bag of home made
cookies on my last visit. This time, she called to her husband, who
was "helping" me do some surgery on her piano, and me, to come to
lunch---roast beef, mashed potatoes & gravy, veggies, rolls, cole
slaw, cranberry sauce, carrot cake, and ice cream. Delicious dinner,
delightful people.


  
Now if their 1974 Conover would stop beating me up every time I visit
...


  
Alan Barnard

Life Can Be Sweet in Salem, MO (although the piano is in West Plains)


  
(Hey David Vanderhoofven: This is the job you referred to me. For the
people, thanks; for the piano ... well, I'll get even somehow!!! :-)
_____________________________
David M. Porritt
dporritt@mail.smu.edu
Meadows School of the Arts
Southern Methodist University
Dallas, TX 75275
_____________________________


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