The Sound of Oxide

Rust? I've never seen rusty strings before... 😵

Certainly, Chopin only plays high-level piano.

Jokes aside: my piano was in a house near the sea for a period and certain types of steel tarnish quickly.

I probably didn't know that when the strings are tarnished, it means they are rusted

Anyway, I have seen and heard many that are tarnished, I don't think there are the prerequisites to replace them ...but I leave the floor to the experts.

Often, the presence of rust on the strings causes false beats.

False beats are annoying beats that are felt in the sound level of a single string and, if they are indeed caused by rust, they are difficult to eliminate.

In order for the piano to maintain a good tone over the years, it is recommended to replace the plate every 10 years.

Thank you Pianoaccordatore, questions:

- Can I save the wound bass strings?

- For the others, I read the thickness with a micrometer (about 0.95 but they vary) and set them to be equal, or is there a table to follow: I do not trust any previous incorrect replacements.

Regards Sergio.

if the sound of the spun strings is still satisfying, you could leave them for now.

steel strings increase their thickness as you approach the central region.

for measurements, stick to the old ones, in the hope that these were put in with the exact measurement (if during measurement some fall halfway between 2 measurements, choose the larger measurement because that string has thinned over time with different tunings.)

bye

I thank Pianoaccordatore again for the precious indications. I will repay you later.

Pianoaccordatore wrote:

In order for the piano to maintain a good tone over the years, it is recommended to replace the hitch pins every 10 years.

... never done and never seen done, but I am not a technician.

I mean, it might be correct, but who actually does it or suggests it? Even when buying new instruments, no one has ever told me ... come back in 10 years for a "service check," yet it seems to me that the technical prerequisites exist and, above all, they are also economical; would you really want to pay someone every 10 years to change all the strings?

Someone will say, if the dealer says the strings have an expiration date, no one will buy the piano ... mmhm

Curiosity, at a perceptual level, what does a listener sense when a grand piano has a twenty-year-old soundboard? So, quite degraded?

When I change them on the guitar, the sound becomes much brighter and louder.

In the pf it will be the same thing but I haven't been able to appreciate the differences either because I only change one of the chorus and the other is the key nearby, and also because I spend more time tuning the new string which keeps settling continuously.

Sergio.

In the treble and super-treble section, I agree with changing the strings at least every 15 years. In fact, they lose elasticity because they are very tense and "worn out." The poor things are stressed, and we demand a precise sound from them, where the sensation of hearing the fundamental prevails and listening to the harmonics is very difficult. A new harmonic steel string, elastic, vibrates along its entire length "with tranquility." In short, aside from the metaphors, age and rust form a patina that prevents the string from vibrating freely. When there is a lot of rust, one tries to remove it. Error. This modifies the gauge of the string and does not yield much, aside from recovering the aesthetics.

It is not that dramatic to replace part of the strings. You will hear the result... provided that the hammers are good and that the soundboard tension is correct!!!

Ok, I'll have to call my tuner and give him a good hair washing

I think that after changing the strings, will it be necessary to tune often or not?

Usually, as soon as they are placed to settle, they are tuned a little higher.

Bravo!

for Frank: no, changing the hitch pin plate is not mandatory. One must also see the state of preservation. One must also take into consideration the sound level of the instrument and the needs of the Pianist. It is, however, mandatory to change the strings when it becomes necessary to change the tuning pins due to poor holding power (ovality of the hole, shrinkage of the soundboard block...etc...)

Regarding the replacement of dowels due to poor grip: rather than having dowels with a larger diameter and therefore not equal to the others, I glued a small strip of beech about 3 mm wide onto some of the walls of the hole.

Based on your experience, did I do the right thing, or in the future if grip problems arise again, is it better to replace the dowels with those of a larger diameter (and by how much)?

The way you did it is fine!!!!!! The sizes of the dowels never match up. What you have done is what is done when, after changing strings and dowels with a larger diameter... some holes still turn out to be wide or ovalized. In that case, it is preferable to place beech veneer spacers on the walls of the hole and then reinsert the dowel again.

Thank you Maestro, I still have some doubts about how to reinsert the pin after veneering.

I have seen pins being reinserted with large hammer blows (a mallet of about 1kg),

I am afraid of hammering my soundboard like that, so I strike with the hammer for only 1/3 of the pin's thread and then begin to screw it in very slowly to avoid damage to the soundboard threading: is it better to hammer more and screw less? And what if I screwed it in even more slowly without hammering?

Regards, Sergio.