Hi MMD friends,  I have a restored Mason and Hamlin Ampico 'A' size
piano, RA39028.  This piano has been fully restored, including
restringing.  I hired a piano restorer to do the piano restringing,
and assumed that all that he did was according to the right
specifications.

However, in recent discussions with Bill Koenigsberg he alerted me to
the fact that there were a number of Mason and Hamlin piano stringing
differences, particularly in the wound bass strings.  See Bill's MMD
article in the Archives for Sept. 24, 2013, at
http://www.mmdigest.com/Archives/Digests/201309/2013.09.24.01.html 

Because my old wound bass strings were discarded before I got the piano
back from the restorer, I am not sure that the new strings really match
the old ones.  (My bass tonal quality is good but I do not know if the
replacement strings enable it to be at its best.)

Therefore I want to find someone with a Mason and Hamlin 'A' piano that
has original strings and the same 'string code' as mine so these
strings can be measured and I can compare the measurements to see if
mine are, hopefully, the same.  Your piano can be either a regular or
an Ampico version.

The string designation code is cast into the piano plate at the end of
the piano farthest away from the keys and near the end of the tenor
string bridge.  My code is A4 and this would pertain to pianos made
from the 1920s through the 1950s?

So if you have an originally strung M&H 'A' grand piano, would you be
so kind as to raise the lid and see if your string code is A4.  If so,
then I can tell you how to measure the bass strings, assuming that you
or a friend knows how to use a dial calipers or micrometer.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Pat DeWitt
Fort Wayne, Indiana

 [ MMD articles about stringing scales are indexed at
 [ http://www.mmdigest.com/Archives/KWIC/S/string.html  and
 [ http://www.mmdigest.com/Archives/KWIC/S/stringing.html 
 [ -- Robbie