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Max, this video is from Jerry's link. It shown very well how to slice a broken string and could be a very valuable lesson for you.
Regards
Chris

Yamaha prints the changes in wire size on the bridge, so if that is legible, a tech merely needs to look at that to learn what size was used. Other makers mark them near the tuning pins. However, not all makers marked the sizes, and they are often illegible, so you should not count on there being any marking. Always check!

Bass strings are almost always a problem and should never be separated from the piano before they are replaced.

That is pleasing and encouraging to read ! very similar to what I did for some time, with touch up tunings until the pianos settle in tune for longer periods, and maintenance so no broken string occur. To that day in all music schools broken strings seem to arise regularely, so my colleagues hardly believe me when I said it is possible to avoid that , with the help of others as you did, it is certainly way more efficient.

I also believe that if you tune for the maximum attack of tone, chances are that the strings break more easily (if you tune hard , not flowing unison)

Regards

I always thought if you're not breaking bass strings, you're not playing gospel piano.

And, that's the "Gospel Truth" your honor!!

Meaning, I won the string break lottery, yesterday?

rxd, I checked the string carefully this morning, and it looked nice and clean at the break point. There was evidence of a drip on the soundboard though, and discoloration (some rust) on the A#6 strings next to it. There is further evidence of a coffee/soda pop spill elsewhere, as well--an interesting scatter pattern that starts in the bass (with some dark goo on the lowest dampers) and finishes in the treble, with a nice pool of guck on the frame under the music desk, mid-piano. (Perhaps on my next day off, I will donate some cleaning time...) But the string broke right at the hammer, so I would think that the damper would have acted as an umbrella for any spill...?

I asked the church secretary to let me know when the tech is coming in to do the repair so I can look over his shoulder and learn a few things. Thanks for the vids, though, Jer! Nice to see how to maknig a coil! My brain hurts a little bit to figure out how you decide where to cut the wire to give you exactly three coils and a little bit on each tunnig pin, and how to (2:45) "repeat the process for the other tunnig pin"--(e.g. "don't twist the wire!," "clockwise! clockwise!" "wait! I mean counter-clockwise!" "wait! I mean clockwise!" "What?!?")

LOL Andy. It takes time to learn all of that stuff. 3 weeks ago, while tuning 2 Steinway B's that were side by side in my college, I had 2 treble wires break on each piano. It's good that they broke during tuning rather than while she was playing them the following week. Saved them a service call and saved me some time.

Some pianos have 4 coils. Both of these pianos had 4 coils on the wires. When I was done, the beckets matched perfectly, the coils were tight and there were exactly 4 coils on each tuning pin. I had to make a mental note which wires they were because I couldn't tell by just looking at them. F-6 and G-6 or whatever it was. That's when you know you did a nice job when you can't even find it yourself!

Thank Chris, it's video is very useful. But I know a similar technique, and I'm always applies if the string in broken part ( before the bridges)

Gypsy technique When not enough 4 coils couple strings in the piano. I'm use nearby upper iron pin

Jerry, you and I rarely disagree but we can't spend our lives saving people from themselves. I'm not fond of unnecessary work but there's nothing like a broken string during a concert to alert management to the reality of what we have been telling them for often two years before that at least the top two sections need to be restrung. We can repair the ones that break but that doesn't guarantee another won't.

Jerry,
Then again, I just opened my pill box and discovered I didn't take my medication yesterday. It is Thursday, isn't it? I can feel my heart hardening as we speak.

Hi rxd,

What's to disagree with? I hate unnecessary repairs too. This particular player works at my college. "This person" is one of those, shall we say, "string breakers?" I can replace "a wire" file the Vbar, hammer, voice it, regulate the let-off, whatever, it doesn't seem to matter. They are kind of like a drum player who breaks drum sticks at will. Whamo, another one breaks or even the same one.

If I had my way, I'd replace the wire from about F-5 roughly, (I forget off hand where that first break from tenor to treble is on that piano) to C-8 completely and file the pressure bar at the same time to eliminate any string grooves. While it would probably help, it wouldn't eliminate the string breakage. Not from this person.

The problem too is that It's like pulling teeth sometimes to get them to fork over the bucks to do that sort of work. It happens infrequently but yet not frequently enough for them to see fit to dole out the cash for the whole job instead of doing it piecemeal costing more in the long haul. So goes life.

Pills? What missing a lil cough, ole, cough, pill gonna do to you? Cough?

Remember: When you are tuning a piano and a string breaks, don't tell the customer, "I broke a string". Instead say, "a string broke on me".

You can even say, "There's a bad string on you piano that needs to be replaced"

But when you tune, you feel the strings are prone to break (most of the time) and when a strings does not stay in tune, the whole region can be replaced generally (2 sections in treble : 1 day's work).

If in the basses, the whole basses are prone to replacement, on a well scaled piano.

SO you can say it to the customer before then, often.

In schools, keeping the regulation and voicing in shape is supposedly enough to avoid string's breakage and brutal "pianists" may be pointed for the harm they do to instruments, not only at the strings.

The tuner may know what is voicing maintenance, however, which is certainly not the case before a certain number of years

Never felt ashamed to break a string unless it was the wrong pin (and it was decades from now !)

I'm sorry for the diversion, but I simply cannot read that subject line without my mind jumping instantly to this impromptu by the late, great, and sorely missed Steve Goodman:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBrF-33GXW4

When а string will burst
keep of your eyes off it's

Gary, for one thing this thread is four months old and was about a pianist, not a technician, who broke a string.

For another thing, I feel like these kind of statements are somewhat misleading and even counter-productive, particularly on a public forum. While I understand what you mean - that breaking a string is not a technician's fault (at least it shouldn't be, if we're doing our job right!), there's nothing wrong with being completely honest and up-front with customers. I have broken strings before while tuning, and been completely honest with customers about it. I don't accept responsibility for it if it's not my fault - I simply explain why it happened and leave replacement choice and cost up to them. I tune a lot of very old and under-maintained pianos, so I've had this happen plenty of times.

Don't get me wrong - there's certainly nothing wrong with saying "a string broke on me." But your post comes across, especially to non-technicians (many of whom read this forum) as advice to misinform the customer. Particularly your second post (although I realize it is accurate, strictly speaking).

I had read the first few posts, not realising it was an old thread when I read the one from Jerry. It stopped me in my tracks for a moment but when I recovered I remembered Jerry.

Miss you. Jerry.