Removing Strings [was Becket breaker? - Technique]

[Kendall Ross Bean]

John~

Thanks for the tips, and the string removal procedure. Great pictures and
explanation, by the way. You seem to be a pro with the digital? camera.
Great detail. (You take the pictures yourself, or have a pro do it? Use a
tripod? And a timer, like I do? Turn off the flash? Use ambient lighting?
-Sorry, got carried away. I'm sort of a dilettante photographer hobbyist.
Tend to get excitable about these things.)

Yes, I wondered if there wasn't a way to slip the becket out and pop the
coil off the pin with one swell foop. You have shown us how. I'm going to
try that next time and see if it isn't faster than the becket breaker.

I think we all should have a wonderful awl like that and know how to use it
safely for popping out beckets and coils. I think the reason a lot of us
don't is that we would probably poke an eye out or hurt ourselves. We tend
to get excitable with tools over here. ;-)

A GOOD STOUT AWL TO LEVER OUT THE BECKET

I'm wondering if we all might not be safer with a good stout ale. ;-).

(You stated:

The tools required are shown below : 
Cardboard to protect the frame and soundboard from scratching 
Tuning hammer or lever to turn the wrestpin 
----> A good stout awl to lever out the becket <---- 
Multiplying side-cutters and/or end-cutters 
Stringing hook for lifting the strings if necessary) 

~Kendall Ross Bean

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-----Original Message-----
From: John Delacour [mailto:JD at Pianomaker.co.uk] 
Sent: Wednesday, July 09, 2008 9:54 AM
To: Pianotech List
Subject: Removing Strings [was Becket breaker? - Technique]

At 00:06 +0100 8/7/08, John Delacour wrote:

>At 18:25 -0400 7/7/08, Al Guecia wrote:
>
>>The system I have used and I think someone has mentioned this on the 
>>list, is to turn all the pins out one complete turn. I them use a 
>>screwdriver which ground down a to narrow the tip to remove the becket 
>>from the tuning pin. I then proceed to remove the tuning pins with a 
>>drill. Once all the tuning pins are removed, I cut the coils and 
>>remove the strings.


I have uploaded some pictures of the technique I use to the following site:

<http://pianomaker.co.uk/technical/string_removal/>

I've thought a little about all this "becket-breaking" business and it makes
no sense to me at all.

JD