Pianotech

Back to discussions
Expand all | Collapse all

Ordering Paulello piano wire

  • 1.  Ordering Paulello piano wire

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 02-07-2023 09:54
    Hello,

    For those of you that do hybrid stringing, can you help me understand the process of ordering Paulello wire?  I'm having trouble figuring this out from the Paulello website.  I am not trying to make a large order, just enough for the lowest 8 tenor notes on my rebuild.

     Thank you in advance for your help!

    ------------------------------
    Tim Foster
    New Oxford PA
    (470) 231-6074
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: Ordering Paulello piano wire

    Posted 02-07-2023 14:44

    hello Tim,
    i have never just ordered the Paulello plain wire strings but Paulello bass strings plus however many Paulello plain wire strings were recommended for a smooth transition.
    John at JD Grandt has done a great job for me, rescaling  with these wires and i've been very happy with the results.
    Maybe he can help you with what you are intending to achieve.
    Peter

    Janssen Piano Services
    6784168055



    ------------------------------
    Peter Janssen
    Fort Myers FL
    (678) 416-8055
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Ordering Paulello piano wire

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 02-07-2023 14:49
    John at JDGrandt will definitely be able to help you, and provide the strings as well.


    Allan Sutton, m.mus. RPT
    www.pianotechniquemontreal.com



    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Ordering Paulello piano wire

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 02-07-2023 15:32
    Thank you for the suggestion! As for bass strings, I am ordering them from Arledge, since I am already familiar with his and I love the sound and quality.  I ran all my numbers through the Paulello typogram. The issues were in the lowest 8 tenor notes and some of the high treble. I'm planning on not worrying about the high treble, only the low tenor where I think leaves the greatest room for improvement. My question is, does JDGrandt work with small jobs like mine, or would I need to order bass strings from them as well?

     Thanks!

    ------------------------------
    Tim Foster
    New Oxford PA
    (470) 231-6074
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Ordering Paulello piano wire

    Posted 02-07-2023 16:43
    hi Tim,
    contact John at 9057730087
    Peter

    ------------------------------
    Peter Janssen
    Fort Myers FL
    (678) 416-8055
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: Ordering Paulello piano wire

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 02-07-2023 17:58
    Hi Tim:

    Ask him.  I think John is a pretty good guy, and I suspect the rest of the respondents do too.

    What is the make and model of the piano you have to restring?  What wire types does the typogram recommend for the bottom 8 notes?  What is the note range at top where it is asking for another wire type?  Most likely XM, my guess.

    ------------------------------
    William Truitt RPT
    Bridgewater NH
    (603) 744-2277
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: Ordering Paulello piano wire

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 02-07-2023 19:45
    John has cheerfully filled small orders for me.

    ------------------------------
    Floyd Gadd RPT
    Regina SK
    (306) 502-9103
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: Ordering Paulello piano wire

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 02-07-2023 21:25
    Well, John seems like a pretty nice guy, I'll try to give him a call in the next couple days.  Thank you for the info!

    William, it's a 1923 Knabe C (7'9") that I'm restoring for myself.  The Paulello typogram recommends the following:

    A2-B2 wire type 1
    C3-E3 wire type 0
    E6 XM
    A6-A7 XM

    I've included a photo of the piano currently, since it's my first rebuild and I'm kind of proud of it.  ;-)



    ------------------------------
    Tim Foster
    New Oxford PA
    (470) 231-6074
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 9.  RE: Ordering Paulello piano wire

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 02-07-2023 21:44
      |   view attached
    Not sure if the photo loaded properly…

    ------------------------------
    Tim Foster
    New Oxford PA
    (470) 231-6074
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 10.  RE: Ordering Paulello piano wire

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 02-08-2023 04:07
    Most of the pianos I rebuild will ask for four Type 1 on the bottom 4 notes of the plain wire on the treble bridge,  Looks like four Type O following.  That would be expected, in as you typically would not transition directly from Type 1 to Type M. How far up Type O is carried can vary widely.  

    The XM near the top usually indicates that the speaking lengths are quite long.  Whatever  is there, I would carry to the top (88).  That is either 2 or 3 wire gauges.

    If you have  your scale of the diameters and speaking lengths in an Excel spreadsheet, you can email it  to me and I will put it into my own software and I will take a look at it .  encorepianos@metrocast.net

    ------------------------------
    William Truitt RPT
    Bridgewater NH
    (603) 744-2277
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 11.  RE: Ordering Paulello piano wire

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 02-08-2023 07:02
    I order bass strings from John and plain wire from France.   You really should use Paulello cores for your bass strings.  They sound so much better than other cores and the tone will match the rest of the piano, which also sounds best Paulello to top bottom. 



    Original Message


  • 12.  RE: Ordering Paulello piano wire

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 02-08-2023 09:25
    Tim,

    Bear in mind that Paulello wire is metric and that the wire sizes are approximately. 001" smaller than the Amercan gauge (e.g. "our" #13 = .031" whereas metric #13 will be closer to .030" and #17 metric will be .038" rather than .039").

    Unless someone can authoritatively contradict this, I do not believe that Typogram or possibly any other scale program deals with this conversion. ​Just keep it in mind. Im open to opposing views.

    Peter Grey Piano Doctor ​​​

    ------------------------------
    Peter Grey
    Stratham NH
    (603) 686-2395
    pianodoctor57@gmail.com
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 13.  RE: Ordering Paulello piano wire

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 02-08-2023 11:22
    Ditto to Doug Laing's suggestion of Paulello cores for your bass strings and how much better they sound.  Get your bass strings from John and pay him to scale the bass for you.  The way they sound will put a smile on your face.  Most likely he will have in stock the gauges and wire types you need for the plain wire.  

    I did my first Paulello piano notes 1 to 88 about 11 years ago, and have never looked back.  That said, it is a real chunk of change to buy everything you need all at once for a whole piano.  For now the best bang for the buck would be Paulello bass strings and what you need for these known problem areas.  

    I use Arno Patin's Abacus for my rescaling.  It does not convert. but is set up for Metric.  I used to convert the american .000's to metric and input them into the spreadsheet, but stopped doing that years ago.

    ------------------------------
    William Truitt RPT
    Bridgewater NH
    (603) 744-2277
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 14.  RE: Ordering Paulello piano wire

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 02-08-2023 11:31
    Hmm, do you have any videos/sound clips with the Paulello bass strings? I'm curious now. (I've listened to the Paulello Op 102, but I'm interested in a more conventional overstrung setup.)

    ------------------------------
    Tim Foster
    New Oxford PA
    (470) 231-6074
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 15.  RE: Ordering Paulello piano wire

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 02-08-2023 19:38

    I do not have any recordings.  FWIW, the Opus 102 bass strings are Nickel plated soft iron wraps with nickel plated Paulello core wire.  Wonderful sound, but different from copper wraps.  Available from Heller in Germany.



    ------------------------------
    William Truitt RPT
    Bridgewater NH
    (603) 744-2277
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 16.  RE: Ordering Paulello piano wire

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 02-08-2023 12:55
    Yes, but you don't convert.   Stick to the measurements not the gauges. 



    Original Message


  • 17.  RE: Ordering Paulello piano wire

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 02-08-2023 13:58
    I can thoroughly agree with this except fir when you are mixing Paulello with American wire (at some crossover point), e.g. I typically change back to American wire in the #17 gauge range since this is usually the widest application of a single gauge. I want my metric wire to be the same size essentially as my American wire so my rescaling takes this into account. I have to pay attention to the ACTUAL sizes that the program is giving me, not simply gauge numbers.

    • Peter Grey Piano Doctor 
    ​​

    ------------------------------
    Peter Grey
    Stratham NH
    (603) 686-2395
    pianodoctor57@gmail.com
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 18.  RE: Ordering Paulello piano wire

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 02-09-2023 19:11

    Douglas,

    When you say: "Stick to the measurements not the gauges", are you basically saying what I'm saying, or are you saying something different? 

    Peter Grey Piano Doctor 



    ------------------------------
    Peter Grey
    Stratham NH
    (603) 686-2395
    pianodoctor57@gmail.com
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 19.  RE: Ordering Paulello piano wire

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 02-09-2023 19:46
      |   view attached

    I actually wonder how many techs are actually using American decimal wire these days. I know I started using Roslau in the early 80's. Mapes International Gold is metric according to their spec sheet with a maximum wire diameter tolerance of .01mm or .00039" which is interesting food for thought. I have always thought in terms of American and Euro gauges to be the same but that metric wire is .0005" to .0008" smaller in diameter. The other school of thought is to go the other way. Take the metric conversion and drop the 4th decimal place so .031" (gauge 13) is actually .0305. Drop the 4the decimal place and it becomes .030 (gauge 12.5)

    Attached is a table: Hit the lower left Full Screen option to actually read the numbers...



    ------------------------------
    Tremaine Parsons RPT
    Georgetown CA
    (530) 333-9299
    ------------------------------

    Original Message