Hi Randy. Knowing that my english can be confusing, I wanted to precise that I was talking about a piano hammer, not a woodworker hammer, when saying banging the string with heavy strokes. Just that nobody tries this with the wrong tool, and then question my mind health. Your plucking idea sounds nice. I was also thinking about securing the string at the agraffee and at the bridge, as I believe that it is the excessively steep bending of the string at the terminations that causes metal fatigue and possible breakage. John, I agree that nothing sounds like a good new bass string. The two occasions when I try to save the old string are 1° when there is only one or two offendable in the whole set (I really don't like those pianos with just a few blinking new strings among the other darker ones), and 2° when the historical value of the instrument asks for retaining as much of the original as possible. Best regards. Stéphane Collin ----- Original Message ----- From: "Randy Chastain" <randy_chastain at sbcglobal.net> To: "Pianotech List" <pianotech at ptg.org> Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2007 5:03 PM Subject: Re: Why NOT to polish bass strings....... Gordon & Stephane, I haven't tried hitting the bass string with a hammer. I do loosen the objectionable string more than a little, raise the damper out of the way and give it a few good plucks. I've had success with this and no broken strings. Randy Chastain Golden Gate Chapter
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