Pianotech

Locally I maintain a Yamaha C3 which for years had a missing bass string, Bb2 just below the break. I didn't do anything about it as the church don't have a budget, and the single string worked fine. Without telling me they got in a local tech . . . who replaced the single string rather than both . . . with predictable results.

The mismatch and inability to tune is finally getting to them. However they seem to find increasing enthusiasm for concerts, which is great, and so are now prioritising getting the strings replaced. The trouble is that leaving a single string whilst I take off the original and send it to be copied, will leave a very unmatched note to the rest, but of course I can take measurements on my next visit instead.

However, the C3 is such a standard instrument, can one simply obtain a replacement pair of strings for that note off the shelf?

Best wishes

David P

Locally I maintain a Yamaha C3 which for years had a missing bass string, Bb2 just below the break. I didn't do anything about it as the church don't have a budget, and the single string worked fine. Without telling me they got in a local tech . . . who replaced the single string rather than both . . . with predictable results.

The mismatch and inability to tune is finally getting to them. However they seem to find increasing enthusiasm for concerts, which is great, and so are now prioritising getting the strings replaced. The trouble is that leaving a single string whilst I take off the original and send it to be copied, will leave a very unmatched note to the rest, but of course I can take measurements on my next visit instead.

However, the C3 is such a standard instrument, can one simply obtain a replacement pair of strings for that note off the shelf?

Best wishes

David P

Locally I maintain a Yamaha C3 which for years had a missing bass string, Bb2 just below the break. I didn't do anything about it as the church don't have a budget, and the single string worked fine. Without telling me they got in a local tech . . . who replaced the single string rather than both . . . with predictable results.

The mismatch and inability to tune is finally getting to them. However they seem to find increasing enthusiasm for concerts, which is great, and so are now prioritising getting the strings replaced. The trouble is that leaving a single string whilst I take off the original and send it to be copied, will leave a very unmatched note to the rest, but of course I can take measurements on my next visit instead.

However, the C3 is such a standard instrument, can one simply obtain a replacement pair of strings for that note off the shelf?

Best wishes

David P

Locally I maintain a Yamaha C3 which for years had a missing bass string, Bb2 just below the break. I didn't do anything about it as the church don't have a budget, and the single string worked fine. Without telling me they got in a local tech . . . who replaced the single string rather than both . . . with predictable results.

The mismatch and inability to tune is finally getting to them. However they seem to find increasing enthusiasm for concerts, which is great, and so are now prioritising getting the strings replaced. The trouble is that leaving a single string whilst I take off the original and send it to be copied, will leave a very unmatched note to the rest, but of course I can take measurements on my next visit instead.

However, the C3 is such a standard instrument, can one simply obtain a replacement pair of strings for that note off the shelf?

Best wishes

David P

David,

It has been my experience that no matter what, whoever makes the strings will want measurements adapted to their method of doing things. Gregor Heller has his own specialized tape measure as does Jsmes Arledge, etc. Gregor is closer to you than anyone here. I would discuss it with him. 

Peter Grey Piano Doctor 

Locally I maintain a Yamaha C3 which for years had a missing bass string, Bb2 just below the break. I didn't do anything about it as the church don't have a budget, and the single string worked fine. Without telling me they got in a local tech . . . who replaced the single string rather than both . . . with predictable results.

The mismatch and inability to tune is finally getting to them. However they seem to find increasing enthusiasm for concerts, which is great, and so are now prioritising getting the strings replaced. The trouble is that leaving a single string whilst I take off the original and send it to be copied, will leave a very unmatched note to the rest, but of course I can take measurements on my next visit instead.

However, the C3 is such a standard instrument, can one simply obtain a replacement pair of strings for that note off the shelf?

Best wishes

David P

Locally I maintain a Yamaha C3 which for years had a missing bass string, Bb2 just below the break. I didn't do anything about it as the church don't have a budget, and the single string worked fine. Without telling me they got in a local tech . . . who replaced the single string rather than both . . . with predictable results.

The mismatch and inability to tune is finally getting to them. However they seem to find increasing enthusiasm for concerts, which is great, and so are now prioritising getting the strings replaced. The trouble is that leaving a single string whilst I take off the original and send it to be copied, will leave a very unmatched note to the rest, but of course I can take measurements on my next visit instead.

However, the C3 is such a standard instrument, can one simply obtain a replacement pair of strings for that note off the shelf?

Best wishes

David P

Locally I maintain a Yamaha C3 which for years had a missing bass string, Bb2 just below the break. I didn't do anything about it as the church don't have a budget, and the single string worked fine. Without telling me they got in a local tech . . . who replaced the single string rather than both . . . with predictable results.

The mismatch and inability to tune is finally getting to them. However they seem to find increasing enthusiasm for concerts, which is great, and so are now prioritising getting the strings replaced. The trouble is that leaving a single string whilst I take off the original and send it to be copied, will leave a very unmatched note to the rest, but of course I can take measurements on my next visit instead.

However, the C3 is such a standard instrument, can one simply obtain a replacement pair of strings for that note off the shelf?

Best wishes

David P

David,

It's worth trying with Schaff, Mapes, or others, but in the end I suspect that they will require measurements (plus ideally it is best to replace both strings of a bichord usually) so that they are not faced with: "The string you sent me doesn't match properly" and have to do it again. If they in fact have historical data available for that model they will compare the data you send to the data they have and try their best to figure out the best thing to do.

Peter Grey Piano Doctor 

Locally I maintain a Yamaha C3 which for years had a missing bass string, Bb2 just below the break. I didn't do anything about it as the church don't have a budget, and the single string worked fine. Without telling me they got in a local tech . . . who replaced the single string rather than both . . . with predictable results.

The mismatch and inability to tune is finally getting to them. However they seem to find increasing enthusiasm for concerts, which is great, and so are now prioritising getting the strings replaced. The trouble is that leaving a single string whilst I take off the original and send it to be copied, will leave a very unmatched note to the rest, but of course I can take measurements on my next visit instead.

However, the C3 is such a standard instrument, can one simply obtain a replacement pair of strings for that note off the shelf?

Best wishes

David P