repairing broken bass strings

[David Nereson]

Don't cut the tails as short as the ones in wireknot.jpg or you'll lose
points on the PTG technical exam.   Besides they might pull out when you
bring the string up to pitch.  Another knot that can be used in splicing
strings is the sheet bend.  See a Boy Scout Handbook or a book on knots,
or, I suppose, some internet site that pictures one.     -David Nereson,
RPT and former tech. examiner



-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org]On
Behalf Of Jon Page
Sent: Wednesday, February 28, 2007 6:31 AM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: repairing broken bass strings

A brief explanation:
http://mmd.foxtail.com/Archives/Digests/200001/2000.01.16.10.html

Attached is a photo of the knot.

To expand on the above link info, Let's say that the wire in the photo is
the wire in the piano hereto known as the 'wire'. The golden wire is the
'splice'.

Make a loop in the wire and give it a slight bend at the cross-over.

Make the splice loop large enough to pass over the wire loop with the
waste end pointing in the opposite direction from the wire loop and
a slight bend at the cross-over.

Pass the splice loop over the wire loop and slide it along the wire.
Insert the tail end on the splice into the wire loop and draw tight.

Because of the take-up in drawing the knot tighter at tension,
cut the length to three fingers (omit pinky finger).

Make your coil on a dummy pin and transfer it to the tuning pin.
Ok, what's a dummy pin you ask? jpg attached.
Instead of backing the pin in the piano out three turns to form a coil
on it, make the coil on a loose tuning pin. This way, the pin only has
to be backed out 3/4 turn to maintain coil height above the plate and
3/4 turn to get the string to tension.   My dummy pin (jpg attached)
is cut off 1/4" below the hole and a saw cut made up into it from the
bottom, this allows the wire to slip right off. This works well for
treble wire but heavier bass strings still need to have the coil
expanded for transfer.
--

Regards,

Jon Page