[pianotech] Breaking bass string

[Cliff Lesher]

On Apr 8, 2011, at 3:02 PM, Wally Scherer wrote:

> My customer has a 1920's era player, upright. The strings are old, but still tunable. The low F# had been replaced by a previous tuner - it was the only one still copper colored. However, when I went to tune it, it broke. 
> 
> Any other opinions?

Wally,

I have found that sometimes it's not the string's fault that it breaks prematurely.  Example:  I had a new Kawai vertical that "ate" two new strings within weeks.  The strings were breaking at the hitch pin loop.  I discovered that the bottom side of the hitch pin had an imperfection, and was no longer smooth and cylindrical.  Rather, there was a cusp right where the pin entered the plate and where the string bore.  The cusp was cutting the string.  Just a couple of millimeters up, the pin was fine, out of range of the imperfection.  I placed a punching to make the loop of the string ride up the pin to the smooth part.  The string's been hanging in there since 2003.

I guess I'd suggest checking the bearing points before visiting Young's modulus.

Cliff Lesher
Winfield, PA