Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Tuner-Technicians Forum 1920s August Forster 6' grand plain wire scale

I'm a fairly green technician working on my old August Forster 6' grand, 1920s vintage (according to my Piano Atlas)

There are no markings anywhere as to string gauge and the strings measure all over the place (age, rust, wrong size replacements perhaps). In any case I can't get a good enough read to establish the correct plain wire scale for this piano.

My request is for a knowledgeable tech to provide me with the scale or direct me to a reliable text resource which I could refer to

many thanks in advance
Phil Manning
Artist Piano Care

Hi Phil, Welcome to PianoWorld.
Your best starting point, I think, is to get as good readings as possible on what is there.

- There are usually rust free areas under the damper, or in the back scale.
- Use a good micrometer, NOT calipers.
- The hitch pins and tied strings will also give clues as to where gauge changes take place.

You can plot the results on a spreadsheet and maybe in some scaling software (free online) and fill in missing blanks from there.

Welcome Phil,

I also own a Förster 190, and suggest you contact the factory or distributor directly. If you provide the serial number they should be able to give you the correct stringing scale. They can also provide you with a new set of bass strings as well.

August Förster pianos have incredible scale designs, IMO. Good luck!

This is the scale tension spreadsheet template I have made. The first set of Length, Gauge, Tension solves Length and Tension for Gauge, approximately. The second set solves Length and Gauge for Tension, so after you have made your guesses for Gauge, you can see how well you are doing. The third solves for Length, which is only of interest if you are designing a stringing scale. Units are pounds of Tension and inches of Length.

Thanks Jurgen - under the dampers gave me much more consistent measurements

Thanks James - In, fact I have contacted them, but no response as yet - but I'm glad to know they'll be helpful

Phil

Thanks BDB - this is going to be fun as well as educational

all very helpful!

Phil

You also may ask the factory if they have an adequate scale. Mail me privately I'll give you a contact.

ALl the best

I aqcuired a near 7 ft August Forster(circa 1925) a little over a year ago, and recently put in a new pin block. Even after carefully meauring all the string demensions, the top octaves made no sense whatsoever! I have to admit that I did what I felt best, and it turned out perfectly. I now have the piano of my dreams! The treble is crisp and clean, and I wouldn't sell this thing at any price. Best of luck