Craig Broucher wrote:

> Twisting bass strings is an absolute necessity when replacing them.  It
> isn't something one does to "add another foot of length" exactly, but
> what one does to prevent the strings from rattling and buzzing,
> eventually.  It also allows the string to develop all its partials.

I agree back years ago when I was using Schaff bass strings, I always had
to twist them because they rattled like heck if i did not.  Now I do it
no matter what.  However, if I have one of my people put on a set of
strings without remembering to twist, I no longer have the rattles, but
the whole bass section sounds dead until we go in and twist them.  I now
use Mapes Strings.

(Copper/steel)

> I doubt if I could tell the difference between the two kinds
> in an honestly performed test.>>

Correct again, I have only rarely found a piano whose bass strings
were in fully usable condition with both copper and steel.  There was
no discernable difference.  In many other pianos, however, the copper
strings had gone dead before the steel ones did.

Having refurbished so many Yamaha grands, we have learned that you are
not getting the full benefit from your bass section unless you go in and
twist all your bass strings 3 turns.

> As far as the crown of a soundboard having something to do with the
> longevity of the strings, well of course, it doesn't.  Crown is used to
> counteract the downward pressure of the strings against the bridges.

Correct again.

> It has nothing to do with sound production,

I will take issue with this because of my thirty years of restoring
fine pianos.  Early on, I restrung many pianos without adjusting crown
in them.  I was always disappointed in those results.  Once I learned
the recrowning techniques, I was blown away at how much difference there
was after recrowning.  The difference is an old piano often sounds
"thunky" in the low tenor section above the break. I liken the tone to
that of banging on radiator pipes instead of strings.  Baby grands are
especially bad about this.  I listen to the resonance of each board
before crowning, and again after crowning, and there is a huge
difference.  I am talking about a piano case and soundboard alone.
All strings and plate are in another room.  A well crowned soundboard
will ring like a tympani with narry a string in sight. Also you can
listen to the tuning of the board alone by whacking it in various places
with the heel of your hand.  Near the bass bridge the ring is lower
pitched and near the treble bridge the ringing is higher pitched.  A
crowned board will ring a second or two.  An uncrowned board will go
thunk like hitting your dining table with a fist.

Yes the crown, when returned corrects most downbearing problems the
piano used to have.  This noticeably affects the ability of the piano
to stay in tune.  Crown is originally put into the board by shaping
the ribs before they are glued on, AND the board is kept in a completely
dry room.  The ribs are glued on and the crown is there.  Still dry the
board is glued into the piano rim.  The heavier the rim the less likely
it is to let the crown flatten.  Then the finished unit is brought out
into the normal moist air.  The board is unable to spread out because
it is glued into the rim, now.  The soundboard takes on moisture in the
air and grows wider across grain.  The only way the extra wood can
expand is up.  The soundboard takes on moisture  so fast that it is
almost possible to see the crown rise as you watch.  You cannot depend
on this extra moisture driven crown, since you do not know what climate
the piano will be put into in the future.

This is the problem with a certain soundboard (so called) "expert" in
Ohio.  I have seen 4 of his pianos into which he put new boards.  Every
one of them was great when it arrived from Ohio, but within 6 months the
treble no longer had any sustaining ability, which was the whole reason
he got the piano in the first place.  When the moisture from the Ohio
river finally left the board through the finish, there was no crown left.
He bragged to me that he put no crown into the ribs, but relied on
moisture alone to crown his work.  One of his pianos is in my showroom.
It has no power in the top end.  If I have it very much longer, I will
destring it and recrown the new board.  That won't be as good as having
the crown in the ribs, but anything would help.  The tone of the
instrument is very disappointing.  It has a 5 year old soundboard with
very little crown.

D. L. Bullock  Piano World   St. Louis