Restring and/or Rescale? 30 YO Yamaha C3

[John Delacour]

Ron Nossaman wrote:

> I'd suggest both rescaling and hammer replacement. Yamaha scales I've 
> seen tend to have high break% in the wrapped strings, some over 70%. I 
> wouldn't change the overall tension much, but I'd want to make sure the 
> bass was at a less extreme break%.

I strongly agree.  The bass scale on every Yamaha I know leaves much 
room for improvement both as regards safety and tone.  When I had a 
showroom and stocked new Yamahas, including the C3, the first thing I 
did when they were delivered was take off the bass strings and replace 
with new rededigned strings.  This made the C3 a slightly less lousy 
piano and it would eventually sell so long as there weren't any 6ft 
Kawais in the near vicinity.

JD