CAUT

I would first increase lefoff. Then address hammers. Are they excessively hard and non-resilient?  That would tend to increase string breakage. What about

keyset?  Are keys loose?  Good advice on capo and Paulello wire.

All Don says... we had this exact issue at Texas Tech on a Yamaha, but especially the Paulello XM wire seemed to be a HUGE help. 

I would first increase lefoff. Then address hammers. Are they excessively hard and non-resilient?  That would tend to increase string breakage. What about

keyset?  Are keys loose?  Good advice on capo and Paulello wire.

I would first increase lefoff. Then address hammers. Are they excessively hard and non-resilient?  That would tend to increase string breakage. What about

keyset?  Are keys loose?  Good advice on capo and Paulello wire.

Ditto to what Don has suggested with regard to the Paulello wire.  At the U of Oregon we have had our share of string breakage.  We had one player who could, at will, break any string on any piano.  It was quite the chase after he was done and he is now at another university (Thank goodness!!)  In the past few years I have restrung several of our Steinway grands that were notorious string breakers and replaced strings in the "breaky sections" on others.  In most cases this encompasses the C6-E/F7 area.  The conversion takes about three hours to accomplish including dressing the capo a bit.  One Steinway B that was restrung with Mapes strings was the worst and I was replacing strings on a weekly basis.  The XM wire was clearly the answer and we now enjoy an instrument that is stable and serviceable.  Of course the ONE STRING that broke after the repair was just below the new wire.  Ya just can't win!!  Sheesh.  After several years all of the pianos with the XM strings in the problem areas have performed well.  Doing this on many of our pianos, and not done yet, I can say without qualification that it works as Don described.  In addition I have noted that along with the enhanced durability that there is little to no difference in the voicing and even using the original tuning scheme on CyberTuner that it was not necessary to change any of the values in that section.  It's a win all the way around for us with minimal fuss to accomplish.  

One additional note--I find that the Paulello wire seems to settle out a bit faster that other strings and not just the XM.  A spot replacement before a performance will yield a bit more stability that most other products.   I also find that the false beats are a bit better as well.  

When I arrived at U of O there was a whole house full of pianos that had hammers not shaped in many years.  I made the commitment to correct that and the reward was pianos with reduced string damage.  It wasn't eliminated but certainly going the right way as far as string breakage.  Nicer to listen to and tune as well.  

I am preparing the restring one of our Hamburg Ds using the Paulello strings including the XM wire.  We noticed that the capo was heat treated and even a file barely touched it.  Both pianos have been habitual string breakers.  When we get the strings on I'll report back on the results and am looking forward to a bit more stability and less string damage on these wonderful pianos

Mike Reiter

U of Oregon  (go Ducks!!)

Ditto to what Don has suggested with regard to the Paulello wire.  At the U of Oregon we have had our share of string breakage.  We had one player who could, at will, break any string on any piano.  It was quite the chase after he was done and he is now at another university (Thank goodness!!)  In the past few years I have restrung several of our Steinway grands that were notorious string breakers and replaced strings in the "breaky sections" on others.  In most cases this encompasses the C6-E/F7 area.  The conversion takes about three hours to accomplish including dressing the capo a bit.  One Steinway B that was restrung with Mapes strings was the worst and I was replacing strings on a weekly basis.  The XM wire was clearly the answer and we now enjoy an instrument that is stable and serviceable.  Of course the ONE STRING that broke after the repair was just below the new wire.  Ya just can't win!!  Sheesh.  After several years all of the pianos with the XM strings in the problem areas have performed well.  Doing this on many of our pianos, and not done yet, I can say without qualification that it works as Don described.  In addition I have noted that along with the enhanced durability that there is little to no difference in the voicing and even using the original tuning scheme on CyberTuner that it was not necessary to change any of the values in that section.  It's a win all the way around for us with minimal fuss to accomplish.  

One additional note--I find that the Paulello wire seems to settle out a bit faster that other strings and not just the XM.  A spot replacement before a performance will yield a bit more stability that most other products.   I also find that the false beats are a bit better as well.  

When I arrived at U of O there was a whole house full of pianos that had hammers not shaped in many years.  I made the commitment to correct that and the reward was pianos with reduced string damage.  It wasn't eliminated but certainly going the right way as far as string breakage.  Nicer to listen to and tune as well.  

I am preparing the restring one of our Hamburg Ds using the Paulello strings including the XM wire.  We noticed that the capo was heat treated and even a file barely touched it.  Both pianos have been habitual string breakers.  When we get the strings on I'll report back on the results and am looking forward to a bit more stability and less string damage on these wonderful pianos

Mike Reiter

U of Oregon  (go Ducks!!)

"If the width of the V is around 4mm, that is a 2mm radius which is good."

Don, by "width of the V", do you mean the width of the surface of the V that contacts the string?

Thanks much,

John Pope

"If the width of the V is around 4mm, that is a 2mm radius which is good."

Don, by "width of the V", do you mean the width of the surface of the V that contacts the string?

Thanks much,

John Pope

Quite some time age when Ron Overs first brought his piano to convention, I seem to remember that there was a recipe for heat treating the capo bar to alleviate work hardening. Has this concept been able to be tested out? I surmise that this would have to be performed while the plate is out of the piano and before finishing. The process would require a series of torch tips ove the area at one time to bring up the temperature to a light cherry red and allowed to cool ... by air, by quenching I have not been able to determine.

"If the width of the V is around 4mm, that is a 2mm radius which is good."

Don, by "width of the V", do you mean the width of the surface of the V that contacts the string?

Thanks much,

John Pope

You would need to pre-heat the plate to 800 degrees F and cool very slowly. Otherwise you risk cracking the plate.

Quite some time age when Ron Overs first brought his piano to convention, I seem to remember that there was a recipe for heat treating the capo bar to alleviate work hardening. Has this concept been able to be tested out? I surmise that this would have to be performed while the plate is out of the piano and before finishing. The process would require a series of torch tips ove the area at one time to bring up the temperature to a light cherry red and allowed to cool ... by air, by quenching I have not been able to determine.

"If the width of the V is around 4mm, that is a 2mm radius which is good."

Don, by "width of the V", do you mean the width of the surface of the V that contacts the string?

Thanks much,

John Pope

So heating the area to a "dull red" in daylight would be conceivable? 

I wonder if the iron can be aneled at a lower temperature or would it have to be at around this 800°

You would need to pre-heat the plate to 800 degrees F and cool very slowly. Otherwise you risk cracking the plate.

Quite some time age when Ron Overs first brought his piano to convention, I seem to remember that there was a recipe for heat treating the capo bar to alleviate work hardening. Has this concept been able to be tested out? I surmise that this would have to be performed while the plate is out of the piano and before finishing. The process would require a series of torch tips ove the area at one time to bring up the temperature to a light cherry red and allowed to cool ... by air, by quenching I have not been able to determine.

"If the width of the V is around 4mm, that is a 2mm radius which is good."

Don, by "width of the V", do you mean the width of the surface of the V that contacts the string?

Thanks much,

John Pope

• A number of years back (1970's) I owned a Yamaha C7 (7'4") where the capo/string buzz was becoming intolerable. Being mildly educated in metallurgy I knew that heating the capo to the temperature needed to re-format the hardness would be extremely risky. Heating cast iron is susceptible to breakage, due to the fact that heating in one area causes the metal to expansion disproportionately as a whole -- hence cracking. It is common knowledge that as metals cool, the outer surfaces cool faster. The faster the cooling process the harder the surface area. I remember visiting a manufacturing company that made large gears in transmissions used in cargo ships propulsion systems. As I was watching the gears being removed from the casting, a worker used a gas torch to apply heat to the outer edges of the teeth to slow down the cooling process. That prevented the teeth from becoming too hard and brittle. That is the case with piano plates. The rate of cooling of the capo will determine the hardness of the surface. Fortunately, in our case with capo hardness, as with any metal, that hardness is "skin" deep. The better, and safer, alternative is to grind the capo down past the outer hard surface with a die grinder. That process poses its own problems as the depth can be difficult to control resulting in different hardnesses throughout the capo. I'm not advocating anyone approach this process impetuously as there are many variables. Fortunately, using a die grinder on Yamaha pianos is relatively easy as you can remove the keybed and approach your work without much physical hinderance.

So heating the area to a "dull red" in daylight would be conceivable? 

I wonder if the iron can be aneled at a lower temperature or would it have to be at around this 800°

You would need to pre-heat the plate to 800 degrees F and cool very slowly. Otherwise you risk cracking the plate.

Quite some time age when Ron Overs first brought his piano to convention, I seem to remember that there was a recipe for heat treating the capo bar to alleviate work hardening. Has this concept been able to be tested out? I surmise that this would have to be performed while the plate is out of the piano and before finishing. The process would require a series of torch tips ove the area at one time to bring up the temperature to a light cherry red and allowed to cool ... by air, by quenching I have not been able to determine.

"If the width of the V is around 4mm, that is a 2mm radius which is good."

Don, by "width of the V", do you mean the width of the surface of the V that contacts the string?

Thanks much,

John Pope