Piano Restringing

An older piano often will develop a lot of rust on the strings, or it may have a problem with breaking strings. The bass strings often become tubby and “dead” because dirt and debris will be caught in the coils and make the strings not as flexible. The bass strings can sometimes be rejuvenated by working to get the junk out of the coils, but it is preferable to replace the entire set.

When restringing a piano, the tuning pins and strings are usually replaced as a unit at the same time. When the strings are removed, they are carefully measured and the scale design is calculated to determine what size of strings should be used for replacement. Good quality newer pianos often will have an acceptable scale design, but old or obscure piano designs can often be improved upon, especially in the bass section. The tone of the piano can often be improved by “tweaking” the scale design.

Although piano wire is made of steel, it does have some elasticity and does stretch. A new piano, or one that has been restrung, will continue to stretch and go flat for quite some time. If you have ever replaced a set of strings on your guitar, you know what I am talking about! After a piano has been restrung and returned to the customer’s house, it needs to be tuned a minimum of four times that first year and a minimum of twice a year thereafter. It is my opinion that a piano will stabilize much more quickly the more frequently it is tuned.

Climatizing for Destination?

In theory it sounds logical, in reality it is completely illogical, but not impossible.

Most wood products manufacturers around the world use very similar processes and equipment to cure their wood.

They air dry the wood outside from 18 months to 5 years, before putting the wood into kilns and drying it to the desired moisture content. The desired final moisture content may vary slightly between manufacturers, but the norm is around 6%. The kiln drying not only dries the wood, but it is also a necessary conditioning process.

With 6% as the norm, some manufacturers may vary 1% + or -, but no more. Some soundboard manufacturers will dry their soundboards lower from 4 to 4.5% in an attempt to reduce cracking in the field, but this will increases pressure ridges and risks the possibility of cell damage unless they have very stringent controls.

With 6% + or – 2% as the norm, glues, abrasives, tooling, finish materials, as well as the climate within the facilities, are designed to work at their optimum within this range. The 2% variance would not be considered climatizing differences. If a manufacturer were to produce products with a large deviation in moisture content, say one at 6% and one 16% they would in theory require 2 different, facilities, equipment, material, and processes, to do it.