[pianotech] hammers or strings?

[wimblees at aol.com]

The only thing that will keep the strings from breaking is for the player to stop banging on the piano. Presuming this will probably not happen, tell your customer replacing strings comes with the territory. It's like race cars, which need to get the left front tire replaced during a race, because they go to fast around the track, always turning left. This guy will always need to get the upper two octaves of strings replaced because he plays to hard. 


Willem (Wim) Blees, RPT 
Piano Tuner/Technician
94-505 Kealakaa Str. 
Mililani, Oahu, HI  96789
808-349-2943 
www.Bleespiano.com
Author of: 
The Business of Piano Tuning 
available from Potter Press 
www.pianotuning.com



-----Original Message-----
From: Lee Morton <lee at leemortonpianos.com>
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Sent: Mon, Jan 11, 2010 2:45 am
Subject: [pianotech] hammers or strings?


I have a customer with 5 grands and he is a stringbreaker. Most of his grands have suffered from 1-4 broken strings, 
but the current problem is a Model B (1982) which is shedding strings in bunches....all in the upper 2 treble areas. This 
piano has its original lacquered hammers, moderately cut, and now it's second set of treble strings. I did not put the replacement 
strings on it so I do not know their origin. I always use Roslau and rarely in my 42 years of piano servicing have I had any 
string breakage. Certainly not to this extent. 
 
  The question I face is this: The underside of the capo bar is, in my opinion, too sharp a profile. (The strings are all being 
chopped off at the bar.) Should I propose stripping the piano down to the agraffes, dressing the underbar with emory paper 
to a more gentle curve, and restringing the top 2 sections with Roslau.  Or replace the hammers with new hammers, properly 
shaped and properly voiced. Or both? 
    Lee Morton 
    lee at leemortonpianos.com 
 

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