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I realise that circumstances alter cases. With moderate use and reasonable care how long should new strings and a new pin block last before needing replacement?

Quality design and construction should result in a LONG lifespan for a pinblock (i.e., many restringing)--this assumes also that the tuner is not a pin-bender, which is bad for the block.

IMHO, modern piano wire starts to show signs of noticeable ageing (i.e., it has an effect on in the tuning = falseness) around 7-10 years, with the bass strings showing signs for improvement as early as 5 years. How long can it be realistically put off before it really needs to be done? Depends, but probably around the c.15-20 year mark.

I tune a lot of pianos over 100 years old with original pinblocks and strings. Some are much better than others. It depends a lot on the atmosphere and the care. A piano sitting in an ocean view home is going to need restringing at a much earlier age than normal. It also depends on the quality of the pinblock and work done to drill it for consistent torque. Some technicians are also making their own hybrid pinblocks that not only has a better feel but will probably outlast what's commercially sold.

I'll second this. In a well designed and constructed piano, you should expect the pinblock to last well beyond this (imo), but, as A443 said, strings tend to show signs of age well before the block.

So, I am male, 58 years old and my playing is distributed amongst 3 pianos. I am also a heavy smoker.

So with my life expectancy a restringing should last me the rest of my natural life??

Since I am such an old codger now that I have 35 year old rebuilds that I still service-not a one needs new strings or pin-block. (Of course the west coast of the US is one of the most stable temperate climates available.) I also service a few exceptionally well preserved 70 or so year old pianos that still have great sounding original wire. After 100 years it is almost impossible to find pianos with still great sounding wire but it is not unheard of.

Phillip, I have a few customers who have used string covers for over twenty years. The strings still look new, still tune easily, and still sound good to my ear.

I'm sure environment is one factor and I would think hard heavy playing would greatly reduce string quality after a few years.


Enjoy

wire quality and purity of the steel do probably make a huge difference.
Wire quality raised more and more up to 1920 +- where the wire where made so much resistive that piano builders in USA asked the makers to lower the carbon content to have them more pure sounding.

I dont know if the same process happened in Europe but this is very possible, Poehlmann showe wire more an more resistant at each new international exposition where they always ha fist price)

I have noticed that some instruments build in East Germany do hae yet in 80's plain wire that is much more resistive to corrosion than the wire of today.

I believe that a good wire can be kept in its elastic condition for way more time than we think, as of today I think wire replacement (plain wire at last) can be envisaged after 25 years, while being really mandatory on the best pianos others can wait 30 35 years but the sound will be less nice.

Only on most exigent pianos the wire is really changed at 20 years or before.

changing only the treble sections is a one day job. (install strings that hold pitch +- after a few months and enough tunings so be ready to deal with that, eventually the tuner can make partial tuning just for those strings)

Usual in schools when a maintenance schedule is respected

Some wire are stable sooner (Paulello wire for instance)

When making the relation between the advantage of new strings and the fact that the quality used originally could have be better, there is a decision that is not always easy to do.

verticals from the 80's for instance may have a slightly harder tone but some precision and power that will not show on always with new strings.

I think the wire makers have the choice when buying their steel to the amount of "old iron" contained in their barrels ("salmon" is the name)
Because I cannot imagine metallurgy being less goo today than before, the material's choice is larger, due to recycling.

I doubt gun makers use much recycled steel for their precision parts, for instance, but piano wire is made by a large industrial company specialize in steel springs for the industry. we have no much interest to them, at may be max 5% of the production for musical wire.

Hence the interest of finding as much technical information as available and try different brands whenever possible.

If you use the pianos as ashtrays you have quite some time yet, those are very large recipients .

While strings are eventually "standard" , there are different types of pinblocks, more or less resonant themselves (the heavy blocks containing much resin/glue do not transmit vibrations as much as maple blocks)
SO in your question one may assume the"good" (or better) block was used.

With up to state of art pin manipulation, the block hardly may fail in my opinion. as said A443, "pin benders" will enlarge the holes an lessen the wood resiliency.
While we are tempted to do so on some pianos, and feel a little safe because of the plate bushings, the block under them can suffer damage.
What fail is "only" wood resiliency that migrates from the zones around the pin to farther.
A larger pin will not gain much in that case as there is too much destroyed wood cells around the pin

I have no ideas of numbers there, thicknesses involved for instance, but gently treated blocks show a raise in tightness and good tuning can be "installed" for a so long time that the pins hardly need to be rotated again in the block (hence lower damage to friction)

Of course the wood loose also resiliency by itself in time, then I would suggest that Delignit blocks may age sooner than good maple blocks.


A really well set pin/wire system is much stable, and once the wire is also, most tunings consist of reinstalling the balance of forces between wire an pin, with occasional "turning" of some pins a few tenths of angular degrees .

The wear on the block in that case is much limited.

On the other hand the hurried tuners that can be brutal will certainly damage the block, as the ones that massage the pin from start to finish in order to have a better tactile return and less large/more precise pin rotation all along its lenght.

The advantage of long term stability is ALSO in slow , very slow wear of the block. If the unison cannot be put off really, the tunings mean little manipulations, can be done without turning counterclockwise the pins for instance. (which "sand" the block where the friction is necessary)

"unloading" of the pin does not mean automatically turning it.

I like to use my left hand if I nee to really lower much strings , on a grand, so the pressure is eased on the "bed" of the pin

Greetings,
According to a materials science professor at Vanderbilt, if carbon steel is not taken past its elastic limit, or allowed to corrode, it has an infinite life. Piano wire doesn't go bad unless treated badly. I have numerous pianos with 100 year old strings and most of them are cleaner sounding than the brand new Steinways I see. Restringing a piano after 15 years simply on a time scale is ill-informed behaviour, and I have years of closely watching my retringing, (in heavy, industrial use), and new Steinways and Yamahas to back that assertion up.

It is a way to taking advantage of customer's ignorance, nothing more. Bass strings can die, yes, but not the plain wire.
Regards,

That is demonstrably untrue: I routinely track the falseness in plain wire to monitor the degradation over time. This is something that is very easy for anyone with an ETD and the willingness to track. Why it happens, I have no idea: I assume it has to do with the heavy hammers deforming the wire at the capo over time and abuse by banging. I tend to see plain wire last longer with lighter hammers, but simply the dirt/gunk on the strings can cause some falseness too, IMHO.

Besides, how bad does the falseness need to be before the piano should probably be restrung? Everyone has there own standards, but if I am observing a 1 cent all over the place movement in the decay--in the majority of the capo notes--I tend to think it is time to think about starting anew.

The middle section is not as much of a problem with ageing, IMHO, because the hammers are much further away from the termination point and does not deforming the wire as severely, as in the capo.

My solution... Keep the dirty/gunky hands off the shiny strings. And don't string bare handed. After that the rest is maintaining a clean piano on the inside, until strings rust/tarnish and restringing is quicker or more desirable than cleaning/burnishing existing strings.