Breaking Strings

[Hechler Family]

Mike,

My mentor had this situation once for a Baptist church. The pianist was 
pounding the heck out of the piano as well as having the sustain pedal 
down most of the time. He had to explain to the pianist that he would 
continue to break strings if he kept playing that way. Once the pianist 
stopped pounding so hard and using less of the sustain pedal, the 
breaking of strings was slowed down and almost stopped (The pianist 
would go back to his old ways occasionally)

Duaine

lists@precisionchicago.com wrote:

>Long time listener, first time caller. First order of business: Thanks for the 
>forum... just reading for the past several months, I've gained valuable 
>knowledge. Keep it up, all!
>
>Moving on...
>
>I've got a customer (a theater) whose has their Yamaha P22 tuned weekly for a 
>long running show. Over the last 9 months or so, bass strings have been 
>breaking with increasing frequency; it's to the point now that I've replaced 5 
>bass strings in as many weeks. As many as 15 or 20 have broken so far. 
>
>It seems to me that the cause is hard hammers. The piano has always been 
>bright, but is a little more so than it used to be (this is a little hard to 
>gauge, since I see the change slowly over the course of a few years). There are 
>definitely deep grooves... I convinced the management to let me reshape the 
>hammers once - the string breakage slowed for a while, and then increased 
>again. The piano is played pretty hard, seven or eight shows a week. 
>
>Am I on the right track, or are there other causes for this type of problem? 
>Besides needing regulation, the piano is in good shape (no environmental or 
>humidity issues, etc.). 
>
>I'm guessing that I need to convince the managemnet to A) let me do more work 
>on the hammers, B) let me replace the hammers w/ new ones, or C) continue to 
>pay for string replacements and muck up my schedule on a weekly basis (and it's 
>two strings every time they break one - I put on a universal, then follow up 
>with a duplicate when it comes in... thought about tying knots, but the strings 
>are breaking right at the end of the winding, mostly - knot much room).
>
>Thanks in advance for thoughts, pointers, sympathy(?)....
>
>Mike Byrley
>Chicago, IL
>
>
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives
>
>  
>

-- 
Duaine Hechler
Piano, Player Piano, Pump Organ
Tuning, Servicing & Rebuilding
Associate Member of the Piano Technicians Guild
Reed Organ Society Member
St. Louis, MO 63034
(314) 838-5587
dahechler@charter.net
www.hechlerpianoandorgan.com