The Stringer or a curtain rod?

[Dave Nereson]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mickey Kessler" <mickeykes@charter.net>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Tuesday, April 13, 2004 5:49 AM
Subject: The Stringer or a curtain rod?


> Hi all,
>
> I recently tuned a crummy Everett spinet in a church, in a cramped corner
> next to the pipe organ -- and a treble string broke.  I've been
considering
> investing in a product sold by Pianotech called The Stringer.  It appears
> to be mostly just a long metal tube used to help insert a string in the
> proper place without having to remove the drop action.  I seem to recall
> the Reblitz recommended something similar: using a hollow curtain rod
pole.
>
> Does anybody have any experience with either technique?  Is a Stringer
> worth fifty bucks, or will a curtain rod suffice?  Or do you have better
> techniques for putting new strings in spinets?
>
> Mark Kessler
>

    $50 seems a bit much, but a lot of these specialized tools are bit much.
I s'pose they're worth it if you've got the money and no time to make your
own.
     A flattened curtain rod works, but unflattened, it's a bit too thick.
Don't flatten it so much that the thicker gauges won't go into it.  These
are the curtain rods shaped like a vertically elongated letter 'C', not the
tubular ones.
    Or you can get a slat of wood about an inch wide and 1/8" thick and make
two parallel grooves down it into which you epoxy 1/8" brass or aluminum
tubing.  I have a long one and a short one for different size pianos.
    They're mainly for understrung strings.  I'm sure there are some spinets
where, depending on which string breaks, you might have to take the action
out anyhow.  But usually you can just loosen it and tip it back enough to
get in there.
--David Nereson, RPT