Hey, Russell! You look good! Who would believe that the boy I knew back then when I was a boy would grow up and become a man? I'm glad to see that you found your calling in life. It's a natural fit for you! Keep up the great work!
yup - old trick to loosen corrosion. But - there is a rub, here. By twisting the tuning pin to release and reestablish tension, you reduce the pin to pinblock friction. This results in loosened pins and can cause some exciting problems! Usually, though, the impact is negligible. Just something to keep in mind.
I did this procedure with the piano in an upright position, and using a few basic tools . The first time, I used a thin screwdriver to turn the hitch loop and needle nose pliers. The next time, I used vice grips which were so much easier. But the tool you have used here seems to make the job a breeze. Great video
I had a strange experience doing this - on some strings it had a pronounced positive effect, on others it had no effect or actually made the tone duller. (Yes, I did check many times on that one to make sure I had not turned it the wrong direction.)
Nice to see this technique. But, can you explain again how you know which direction the coil has been twisted originally? It surely depends on what way you look at it?? Is it whatever way the end of the coil is pointing???
Yes, you look at the end of the coil and imagine that it is not the end but that you still winding the wire around the string. The direction that you would continue to coil the wire is the direction that you want to turn the string.
Yes. Look for the cut end of the wire nearest the loop, and imagine that you are continuing to wrap the wire around the core. That is the direction. It is also useful to just notice the tendency of the loop to move in as you take it off the hitch pin. Tightening it would be to go in the opposite direction of that tendency.
I’m fairly certain I have this issue in my bass strings. The piano I just bought is 20 years old and was not tuned frequently. I’m pretty handy, but this looks a bit delicate and I wouldn’t want to damage the pins. Do you think this is something I should leave to a RPT? Also, would you say this is something a RPT should be familiar with and be able to do confidently? Thanks for taking the time to make this informative video.
In general a twenty year old piano should not need this procedure. I usually get results with piano that more like 50 years old or more. But the way to find out is just do one or two strings and see if you can hear the difference. It is good to be cautious before you do such a thing but pianos are pretty sturdy things overall. This procedure will throw off the tuning so there is that to consider.
Hello, is there a distance to respect between the points of the bridge? (we say "chevalet" in france) and the beginning of the thread of the bass strings ?
I love your videos, but I really wish you would turn off the background music. As in so many RU-vid videos it is very distracting annoying. It really detracts from the message that you are trying to share.
I’m currently restoring a Monington and Weston upright which I believe dates to 1880 or thereabouts. When I looked at the bottom of the bad strings, there was a black felt strip woven through the strings, almost like a tuning strip but thinner. Is this something I will need to replace? Can you offer any insight as to what it could be?
Yes, this is stringing braid. It is woven between the section on the strings between the bridge and the hitch pins to dampen any sympathetic ringing of the this "non-speaking" length of the string. We sell this in our online store in a scarlet color.
Had a brand new K-300 that came with a bad base string. Tech put a twist in it and it was much better. He still ordered the replacement string for me under warranty just in case. Any idea on how much more time this might give a base string before it needs to be swapped out?
I don't really have any idea but for practical purposes I think I would swap out the string now while you are thinking about it. This way the strings can all age together and also you will not have to worry about misplacing the new string and not having it if it turns out to be many years before the original goes bad.
It's not recommended to do them all at once because it takes all of the tension off of one section of the piano which can cause too much stress on the parts of the plate.
I have a 1800-1900s steinway and sons square grand piano and I'm trying to take the action out of it and there's a board as long as the keyboard under the steinway logo and I can't figure out how to get it out do you mine helping in some way, I know your the one to ask
I think you are referring to the board that is located above the keys? This is where a fallboard ( the piece that closes to cover the keys) would be on a modern grand piano. On a modern grand the fallboard must be removed first before the keyframe can be slid out. In the case of a square grand piano this board I believe, comes out with the keyframe. In other words, the action and this board are attached and come out together. Once the action is out you can access a screw on each side of the top of this board to remove it from the keyframe. Hope this helps.
@@howardpianoind thank you, I just tried it and it worked, there were 3 screws on the bottom connecting to the keyboard I unscrewed those and I just had to pull the keyboard out, again thank you very much this helped a lot
