PDF - Piano Technicians Guild

An International Non-Profit Organization of Registered Piano Technicians
Taylor Mackinnon, RPT

Plates in Focus
President
520 SE 29th Ave., Hillsboro, OR 97123
(503) 846-1501 Steve Brady, RPT
E-mail: pres@ptg.org Journal Editor
Richard Bittner, RPT
Vice President You may notice a special emphasis on piano plates in this issue; it’s no
519 Melody Ct., Royal Oak, MI 48073 accident. Some time ago the PTG Board of Directors approached me with a
(248) 398-8721
E-mail: vp@ptg.org special request: a “theme” issue dealing with plates. We had hoped to cover
Paul Monroe, RPT
plates from all angles, from raw materials, to design and manufacture, to
Secretary-Treasurer breakage and repair techniques. Of greatest concern, however, was the matter
5200 Irvine Blvd., Sp. 310, Irvine, CA 92620 of liability. When a plate breaks, whose fault is it?
(714) 730-3469
E-mail: sec@ptg.org
While an article on plate manufacture was not forthcoming, we’ve
David P. Durben, RPT covered most of the other bases. Don Galt’s excellent article gives as much
Immediate Past President
2310 E. Romneya Dr., Anaheim, CA 92806 detail about the raw materials – not just for plates but for many other iron
(714) 491-7392
E-mail: ipp@ptg.org
and steel piano parts as well – as most of us will ever need. Although Jim
Ellis analyzes a specific plate that broke because of poor design, he also
Ruth B. Phillips, RPT
Northeast Regional Vice President provides numerous insights into what constitutes a good plate design. From
3096 Bristol Rd., Warrington, PA 18976 Wilford Young comes a welding repair method that has proven effective over
(215) 491-3045
E-mail: nervp@ptg.org many, many years and retired engineer Richard Oliver Snelson describes a
hybrid restoration combining a mechanical repair with welded
Robert L. Mishkin, RPT
Southeast Regional Vice President reinforcements. Finally, we’ve addressed liability by relating a tale that
1240 NE 153rd St., N. Miami Beach, FL 33162 desperately needs to be told. As Marnie Squire’s story unfolds we see clearly
(305) 947-9030
E-mail: servp@ptg.org that the technical authorities are unanimous: tuning a piano cannot possibly
break a healthy plate.
Jack R. Wyatt Sr., RPT
South Central Regional Vice President Indeed, a healthy plate can withstand unspeakable acts. In “The Tuner’s
2027 15th St., Garland, TX 75041
(972) 276-2243 (H) Life,” Carman Gentile tells of one such experience. I can recall many other
(972) 278-9312 (W) instances myself. For example, a panicked piano owner called me after she
E-mail: scrvp@ptg.org
discovered that her 11-year-old son had industriously removed all the plate
Robert S. Bussell, RPT rim lags from her small Chickering grand. The piano was horrendously out
Central East Regional Vice President
224 West Banta Rd., Indianapolis, IN 46217 of tune. After replacing the lag screws, I found that the tuning had improved
(317) 782-4320 somewhat and was able to perform an uneventful tuning.
E-mail: cervp@ptg.org
In my shop, a concert-grand plate fell some four inches to a concrete
Richard E. West, RPT
Central West Regional Vice President floor when one of the hoist cables slipped. The plate didn’t break and,
1427 A St., Lincoln, NE 68502 although this happened nearly 20 years ago, the piano is still humming along
(913) 631-8227
E-mail: cwrvp@ptg.org happily.
Larry Joe Messerly, RPT The late Don Galt once related to me that he had seen a six-foot grand
Western Regional Vice President tumble end-over-end down a flight of 30 steps when a rope the movers were
2222 W. Montebello Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85015
(602) 433-9386 using suddenly broke as the piano approached the landing. Broken plate? No.
E-mail: wrvp@ptg.org “In fact,” Don said, “it was still pretty much in tune when we set it up
Keith Eugene Kopp, RPT afterward.” And that piano is still in service more than 25 years later.
Pacific NW Regional Vice President
61283 Killowan Lane, Bend, OR 97702
(541) 388-3741
E-mail: pnwrvp@ptg.org
2 Piano Technicians Journal / November 2000

Iron, Steel & Pianos
By Don Galt, RPT
(Reprinted from the Piano Technicians Journal, April, 1970.)
Editor’s Introduction
Don Galt served as Technical Editor of this publication from 1969 until 1977. One of the many special
things that Don brought to his work as a piano technician and his work with the Journal was his exten-
sive knowledge of iron and steel, gained over many years in his previous life as a re-bar engineer at
Bethlehem Steel. I am reprinting this article in its entirety, and in a sidebar I’ve included a brief question
and answer in which Don replies to a reader’s query on responsibility for plates broken while tuning.
This item appeared in the November, 1970 issue of PTJ, p.10. – SB
T
here is little in the appearance of a piano to Carbide System” and “Testing & Properties,” will probably
reveal the massive forces that its members exert make the greatest demands on the reader’s attention. The
on one another, without respite, through many author hopes that this attention will be rewarded with an
decades of time. It is only when the instrument enlarged understanding of how these materials do their
absorbs the energy of the musician, translates it and throws it work in the piano. If any reader gives up and jumps off
back as sound energy at small or great dynamic levels that during “The Iron-Iron Carbide System,” I hope he or she
the magnitude of these forces is hinted at. will climb back aboard for “Testing & Properties.”
Even so, the dynamism of the pianist and the stolidity of
the piano foster the illusion that the former, rather than the General Considerations
latter, is actually the source of the sound. Pure elemental metallic iron is a rare thing outside of the
So perhaps it is natural that piano users are ignorant of, laboratory and we never encounter it in pianos. The steel
and even piano technicians sometimes take for granted, the music wire and the gray cast-iron plates of pianos, as well as
highly stressed metallic members to which the modern other familiar iron products such as structural steel, wrought
piano largely owes its dynamic compass. iron, white cast iron and so on, are mixtures of iron and
To gain a little sympathetic understanding of these carbon, iron being by far the predominant ingredient. They
members, this paper attempts a short description of the are not chemical compounds, so their proportions and
important iron products used in piano building: their hence their properties can and do vary widely. If the carbon
manufacture, their physical properties, and their reactions to content is less than about two percent by weight, the
the loads they are asked to carry in the piano. material is called steel. If the carbon is more than two
For the reader’s convenience the article is divided into percent it is called cast iron. This two percent figure is not
the following sections: arbitrary, but we will not explore its significance at the
General Considerations moment.These terms illustrate the sort of paradox that can
Pig Iron — The Blast Furnace grow up on a subject when the usage develops gradually.
Gray Cast Iron — The Cupola Steel is defined as a mixture or alloy of iron and carbon, and
Steel — Making the Material yet what is called cast iron contains more carbon than steel
Steel — The Rolling Mill does.
Steel — Wire Drawing In practice, most steels have well less than two percent
The Iron - Iron Carbide System carbon, and most cast irons have well more than that
Testing & Properties amount. Gray cast iron, as used in piano plates, contains
The first five sections of the article, down through about 3.5 percent carbon, structural steel about 0.25
“Steel — The Rolling Mill,” are fairly general, but with percent, tool steels usually one percent or more, piano wire
occasional references to our special interests. about 0.90 percent.The properties of the material depend a
The section on “Steel – Wire Drawing” gives a very great deal on the percentage and form of the carbon
brief description of this procedure, leaving out more than it present.
tells (as does every part of the article).
The last two sections entitled “The Iron — Iron Continued on Next Page
November 2000 / Piano Technicians Journal 17

Continued from Previous Page
All steels and cast irons also contain other elements and layers of coke, ore and limestone, which form a descending
materials. Some of these, such as sulphur and phosphorus, column. Air is forced in at the bottom, and the coke burns
are residual impurities which generally have been reduced partially to carbon monoxide, which in turn reduces the
in manufacture to the economic minimum. Others, such as iron oxide ore.The limestone forms a molten, fluid slag,
silicon and manganese, may be purposely left in in con- which, floating on the molten iron, accumulates and carries
trolled amounts, or be purposely added, to give the material off much of the waste matter. The blast furnace operates
special qualities. Examples are gray cast iron, containing continuously, with materials charged at the top and the slag
considerable silicon, and the many alloy steels containing and molten pig iron drawn off at the bottom.This is a hot
chromium, nickel, molybdenum and so on. process, with a temperature gradient in the furnace from a
The steel category includes a large spectrum of materi- few hundred degrees at the top to about 2,750 degrees F. at
als, classified by carbon content, as well as by the percentage the bottom.
ranges of other alloying elements. Music wire is generally Pig iron, the blast furnace product, contains fairly large
made from carbon steel, as distinguished from alloy steel, percentages (totaling seven percent or more) of impurities
which means that no deliberate alloy additions are used. such as silicon, manganese, sulphur, phosphorus and an
(Except manganese. Almost all steels, either carbon or alloy, excess of carbon. “Impurities” is a relative term, as some of
contain appreciable amounts of manganese.) these inclusions are impurities only as they are in excess for
Apart from the chemical distinction between steel and the purpose at hand.
cast iron, one of the most important differences is that the
various steels are generally ductile and malleable in varying Gray Cast Iron — The Cupola
degrees, while cast iron generally is not. (The amenability of If the end product is to be gray cast iron, the pig iron from
a material to plastic deformation under stress without the blast furnace is refined in an oxidizing furnace known as
fracture is called ductility or malleability, according as the a cupola. In foundry practice the cupola charge usually
stress is tensile or compressive.) includes cast iron and steel scrap and ferro-silicon, as well as
Wire could not be made from cast iron because the the pig iron. Coke for fuel and limestone for flux are also
manufacturing process and most wire usages demand a included. Because little or no chemical correction is possible
ductile material. On the other hand, piano plates could be in the cupola after melting, the charge must be carefully
made of steel by forging, casting or welding, but among planned as to proportions of entering materials, based on
other disadvantages they would be costly far beyond any the constitution of these materials and the desired constitu-
strength superiority they would have over plates of gray cast tion of the product. A typical melt for piano plates might
iron. contain 3.5 percent carbon and 2.4 percent silicon, about
We will return to some of the other properties and which more will be said later.
reactions of these materials after a short excursion into iron The molten “cast iron” is drawn off and poured into
and steel making. molds, usually of sand, in which it takes the shapes of the
The manufacture of steel divides rather naturally into patterns used in preparing the molds — piano plates, for
two stages: example.
1) making the material and 2) making the product from
the material (product meaning bars, structural shapes, sheets,
wire, etc.).With gray cast iron on the other hand, the Steel — Making the Material
material is generally turned out in product form, as we shall If the end material is to be steel, the pig iron from the blast
see. furnace is refined in one of various types of oxidizing
furnace permitting closer control than the cupola of the
iron foundry. The reader will have heard of the Bessemer
Pig Iron — The Blast Furnace converter and the open-hearth furnace, both long used in
The first step for either steel or cast iron is to recover iron in steel making. The electric furnace, once limited to special
usable form from iron ore, which is iron oxide (rust) in steel manufacture, is now used extensively in the production
varying mixtures with earth, sand and rock. This recovery is of more common grades. Steel music wire may be made of
mostly a process of getting rid of the oxygen by heating the either open hearth or electric furnace steel, never Bessemer.
ore in the presence of carbon and limestone. This takes place (The very fast Bessemer process is not deliberate enough to
in a blast furnace, which is a shaft, typically 25 feet or more allow the analysis and chemical corrections necessary to the
in diameter by 75 feet or more in height, charged with careful manufacture of high carbon steel.)

After various tests show that the desired constitution has elongates the grains or crystals, making the steel somewhat
been achieved in the furnace, the molten steel is poured fibrous in structure, with considerably increased longitudi-
into molds, where it cools and solidifies into ingots, oblong nal strength and toughness. (Steel should not be thought of,
in form and varying in size from a ton or less to many tons. however, as actually having fibers.) Flat rolled products, that
When the steel freezes in the ingot mold it has been in the is, sheets and wide plates, generally are cross-rolled early in
molten state for the last time and the steel making might be the rolling sequence, not only to gain width but also so that
said to be complete.The solid state processing which follows the improvement in properties will not be limited to the
does not change the constitution of the material, that is, the longitudinal direction.
proportions of its elemental ingredients. Steel destined for piano wire making is rolled on a rod
However, the various forming procedures and heat mill to a diameter of slightly over 1/4". It comes off of the
treatments do influence greatly the grain structure of the mill in a continuous coil instead of being straightened and
steel, and hence its physical properties such as strength and cut to length on the hot bed.
hardness. The special character of music wire depends as Up to this point in steel music-wire making, all of the
surely on the forming process as on the high temperature processing has been at high temperatures, beginning in the
chemistry of the steel furnace. So now let us examine some molten state in the blast furnace and the steel furnace where
of these forming processes in general and wire making in the temperatures approach 3,000 degrees F. The forming
particular. work on the rolling mill in the solid state requires tempera-
tures of the order of 2,000 degrees or more.
Steel — The Rolling Mill
The greatest tonnage of steel ingots goes next to the rolling Steel — Wire Drawing
mill (See Figure 1) in which a white-hot ingot is passed If the hot work of rolling added strength and toughness by
between rolls having appropriately shaped circumferencial elongating the grain structure, the cold work of the drawing
grooves. The ingot is thus elongated and reduced in cross- process which follows in wire manufacture has an even
section. greater effect on the properties of the steel.
After cleaning and coating, the rolled steel is drawn cold
through a fixed hole, or die (See Figure 2), which results in
elongation together with reduction of cross-section, and a
great increase in hardness, tensile strength and yield strength.
(This will be discussed in “Testing & Properties.”) As used
here, “cold” does not necessarily mean cold to the touch.
Work at any temperature below the recrystallization tem-
perature (several hundred degrees) is “cold work.”
Continued on Next Page
Figure 1 — Rolling Mill
Generally ingots are “broken down” into blooms, slabs

or billets in the “blooming mill,” etc. (These industry terms
identify the shape and size ranges of the products of the
initial rolling operations.) The blooms, slabs and billets go
on to smaller mills for rolling into various finished shapes.
Larger shapes may be rolled directly from ingots.
A sequence of many different roll passes is required to
reduce an 18” square by 6’ long ingot, for instance, to more
than 3/8 of a mile of 2” by 2” by 1/4” angles. Figure 2 — Wire Drawing
The “hot working” of the steel by rolling, squeezes and

A corollary result of the increase in

hardness is a reduction in ductility; that is,
some of the ductility is “used up.”The
fairly high carbon content of music wire
steel limits its ductility to a reduction in
area of about 30 percent or less per draft.
Obviously many drafts are required to
reduce a 1/4” rod to the diameter of music
wire and the ductility must be restored
between drafts. This is done by patent
annealing, which consists of reheating the
wire to a selected temperature, perhaps
1,500 degrees F., followed by slow cooling
in air or in a medium maintained at a
rather high temperature. The result is
recrystallization into a ductile grain
structure.The cycle of drawing and
patenting must be repeated several times.
The wire is finished on the final draft, with
no further heat treatment, so its strength
and hardness depends a great deal on the
amount of reduction after the last anneal. Figure 3 – Iron-Iron Carbide Equilibrium diagram
The traction for pulling the wire
through the die is supplied through the reel, or block, on The horizontal scale represents the percentage of
which it is wound. Since the tension is quite high, the wire, carbon by weight, and covers the range from pure iron (0
which comes through the die straight, is strained or cold percent carbon) to pure iron carbide (6.67 percent carbon).
worked to the curvature of the block’s circumference. A The vertical scale represents the temperature in degrees
technician struggling to untangle a small coil of recoiled Fahrenheit.We will not concern ourselves with the intrica-
piano wire that “got away” can readily estimate the diameter cies in the extremely low carbon area at the left side of the
of the draw block, unless, of course, the wire was straight- diagram.
ened before recoiling. The lightly cross-hatched area of Figure 3 represents a
At this point let us leave the solid-state processing of “mushy,” partly frozen state, bounded at the top by the line
steel, and look at the constitution and micro-structure of the marked “liquidus” and at the bottom by the line marked
various iron-carbon mixtures. “solidus.” Above the liquidus the material is completely
molten. Below the solidus it is completely frozen or solidi-
The Iron-Iron Carbide System fied. The mushy, partly frozen state between has an analogy
The molten metal which comes from the cupola or the steel in salt-water solutions, which are mushy through a consid-
furnace is largely a solution of iron carbide in iron, or more erable temperature range between the freezing point of pure
properly, a mutual solution of the two in each other. As water and the rather lower total freezing point of the
cooling proceeds, the metal undergoes a series of changes solution. The reader will note that, for both pure iron and
(reversible on reheating), of which freezing is merely the the eutectic cast iron (4.3 percent carbon) the liquidus and
first.The nature of these changes, and the temperatures at the solidus coincide — there is no mushy state, whereas at 2
which they occur, depend largely on the percentage of percent carbon the mushy state persists through a range of
carbon in the metal. about 450 Farenheit degrees.
Figure 3, which is a simple version of the Iron-Iron Below the solidus, solid state changes occur during
Carbide Equilibrium Diagram, will help to visualize the cooling, which, to simplify, consist of the separation of iron,
state of different iron-carbon mixtures at various tempera- carbon, and iron carbide in various forms as their mutual
tures, and some of the changes that occur during solidifica- solubility changes with falling temperature.These separa-
tion and cooling. tions are, of course, microscopic and result in changes in
crystalline structure.Volumes could be written analyzing

these changes and their practical significance.We will limit cementite increases the hardness and strength of the steel,
ourselves to a few observations relevant to this article. compared with that of steel which is lower in carbon.
To better understand Figure 3, one must realize that in It might be of interest to trace the cooling cycle of a
the solid state iron exists (at different temperatures) in at hyper-eutectoid steel of, say 1.25 percent carbon.This steel
least two allotropic forms. Below 1,333 degrees F. it is stable starts to freeze at about 2,650 degrees F. and freezing is
as alpha iron. Above 1,333 degrees it is stable as gamma iron. complete at about 2,350 degrees. It now remains solid
These forms have different crystalline structures and their austenite containing 1.25 percent carbon until it cools to
interest to us is in the fact that the solubility of carbon in gamma the Acm line at about 1,675 degrees. At this point the solu-
iron is fairly high, but in alpha iron it is extremely low. tion is saturated with carbon and the excess carbon starts to
With these facts before us we are ready for definitions precipitate in cementite. This precipitation of cementite
of some of the terms appearing in Figure 3. continues on down to 1,333 degrees, at which point the
Austenite: A solid solution of carbon in gamma iron. remaining austenite, which has now reached eutectoid
The maximum carbon in austenite varies composition, transforms to pearlite, and we have a mixture
between 2 percent at 2,065 degrees F. and of pearlite and Cementite grains as mentioned in the
0.8 percent at 1,333 degrees F. (See Acm preceding two paragraphs, and a rather hard steel.
line.) Austenite does not exist below 1,333 Hypo-eutectoid steel (less than 0.8 percent carbon),
degrees F. because gamma iron changes to after freezing, continues to cool as austenite down to the A1
alpha below that temperature. line, at which point it begins to cast out ferrite crystals. This
Ferrite: Almost carbon-less alpha iron. (Limited to continues on down to 1,333 degrees F. at which point again
about 0.02 percent carbon, as carbon is the remaining austenite has reached eutectoid composition,
virtually insoluble in alpha iron.) and transforms to pearlite, resulting in pearlite grains in a
Cementite: Iron carbide (Fe3C). An extremely hard and ferrite matrix. Ferrite is similar in properties to pure iron.
brittle compound, hard enough to scratch Hence steels low in carbon are relatively soft and of lower
glass. Contains 6.67 percent carbon by tensile strength than the high carbon steels.
weight. The temperature-related changes we have been discuss-
Pearlite: A low-temperature (below 1,333 degrees ing are also time-related. The equilibrium states represented
F.), rather homogenous laminar mixture of by the various areas of Figure 3 assume that the cooling
ferrite and cementite, containing about 0.8 metal has the necessary “leisure” for the changes to take
percent carbon. place. Sudden cooling may force non-equilibrium changes
Now, referring to Figure 3, let us follow a few iron- that alter the crystalline structure and the properties of the
carbon materials from the molten to the cold state. material.
Suppose we have molten steel of 0.8 percent carbon, These facts are the basis of the heat treatment of steel,
which is permitted to cool slowly. Freezing commences at which consists of slowing or speeding the cooling rate
about 2,690 degrees F. and is complete at about 2,520 through critical temperature ranges to facilitate or inhibit
degrees. The solid austenite then cools without change right change. Thus, in the wire-drawing process, ductility was
down to the 1,333-degree line. At this point the gamma restored between drafts by reheating the wire above the A3-
iron changes to alpha iron and the austenite transforms to Acm lines to the all-austenite condition, then cooling it
pearlite as the carbon is cast out of solution in iron carbide slowly to below the A1 line. A rapid quench cooling on the
laminae. This all-pearlite 0.8 percent carbon steel is said to other hand would have increased the hardness and reduced
have eutectoid composition. the ductility by forcing a non-equilibrium change into one
Pearlite actually retains its identity in non-eutectoid of the harder forms, as, for instance, Martensite (not defined
steels, but since its carbon content is uniform at 0.8 percent, in this article).
these non-eutectoid steels are necessarily not pure pearlite. Steel for piano wire, having about 0.85 to 0.90 percent
If the steel is hypo-eutectoid (less than 0.8 percent carbon) carbon, is near eutectoid composition and hence mostly
it consists of pearlite and ferrite grains mixed. If the steel is pearlite. It affords an excellent compromise between high
hypereutectoid (more than 0.8 percent carbon) it consists of tensile strength and high ductility.
pearlite and cementite grains mixed. Now let us look at the cast iron area of Figure 3.We see
The precipitated cementite in hyper-eutectoid steel at once that a cast iron of 4.3 percent carbon has the
forms at the pearlite grain boundaries, and this network of minimum freezing point of all the iron-carbon mixtures

(2,065 degrees F.).We see also that it has no mushy stage, percent) is precipitated as graphite flakes, interspersed with
since the liquidus and solidus lines coincide at that carbon the ferrite and cementite crystals, so that little cement-ite is
ratio. In foundry work this material would have the obvious present except in pearlite form.This formation of graphite
advantage of remaining fully fluid at a relatively low tem- is essential to the character of gray cast iron, and the silicon
perature, flowing freely in intricate molds such as those is the chief agent in its formation. Hence the great impor-
required for piano plates. Also, with almost no temperature tance of silicon in gray cast iron. (Figure 3 does not try to
change during freezing, shrinkage during freezing would be show this effect.)
minimal, resulting in sound castings free of shrinkage
defects. While the carbon in gray cast iron rarely exceeds 3.5 Testing & Properties
percent, the advantages named above are still partly retained Since the properties of a material determine its suitability
at this percentage. for a particular purpose, the testing of these properties is
In view of what we have said about the hardness of very important.
mixtures high in carbon (cementite), a 3.5 percent carbon Some vital properties of engineering materials are
cast iron might seem much too hard and brittle to be useful. toughness, hardness, and fatigue strength.Toughness is
Indeed it would be if all the carbon remained in combina- measured by the energy absorbed before fracture in a
tion as cementite. But the silicon present in the metal comes standardized impact test. Hardness is measured by the
to the rescue. As freezing and subsequent cooling progresses, penetration of a standardized indenting die. Fatigue strength
most of the carbon in excess of the eutectoid ratio (0.8 is measured as the maximum stress tolerable under indefi-
Broken Plate! Who Is Responsible?

A plea for advice about a distressing occurrence with no tuner within miles!
comes from New York State: It is safe to assert that a “healthy” plate, properly
“As a former member, retired, I am seeking some designed, properly fitted and secured in the piano,
information. I pulled up an old piano 1/2 note to 440 will not break under the ordinary stresses of the
pitch, informing the man it was risky to raise the pitch. In tuning process, even when the string tension is being
doing so, after the pull-up, the plate [cracked] in the treble raised back to standard after long neglect. It is de-
section. signed to stand much higher stresses than those set up
What I want to know is, who is responsible? by strings tuned to standard pitch.
This is the first time this has happened to me in 58 There is even some question whether such a
years tuning.” plate could be broken by deliberately over pulling the
Some [technicians] tune pianos for a lifetime strings or whether the strings would not break first.
without ever experiencing a broken plate. But it does But since the tuner does not do this, the question is
occur once in a while. It is always sudden and unpre- academic.
dictable, the result of some unseen internal strain in So there is no basis for considering the tuner to
the plate. It may be the result of metal fatigue in a be responsible for plate breakage that occurs during
plate that was never quite perfectly fitted to the heavy or after tuning. This fact is easier for customers to
wooden frame of the piano, but was forced to con- accept if they are forewarned that there is risk in-
form to it by the many bolts and screws. It may be the volved in raising the pitch of a piano. That this risk is
result of slight and gradual changes in the wooden extremely small is shown by the fact that our inquirer
frame itself, to which the cast-iron plate is not able to tuned for 58 years, including, I am sure, hundreds of
accommodate itself. It may be the result of a hidden pitch raises as drastic as this one, without ever experi-
weakness in the casting, which finally “lets go.” It is, as encing a broken plate.
I say, a rare thing, but it does occur. It has been known — Don Galt
to occur when the piano was sitting idle by itself,

nitely repeated cyclic loads. cross-section of the neck) is considerably greater than the tensile
The properties of steel most important to us in connec- strength (the maximum load achieved, divided by the
tion with piano wire are those called tensile properties. original cross-section). If one thinks of wire drawing as a
Because there are some striking similarities between wire sort of controlled tensile test, in which a “continuous neck”
drawing and the tensile testing of steel, we will examine the of uniform cross-section is formed, it is not hard to see how
latter in some detail. the drawn wire develops strength and hardness superior to
The tensile test consists of stretching a specimen of those of the hot rolled rod from which it is drawn. The
known cross sectional area to failure in a testing machine. drawn wire exhibits a new elastic limit and yield point,
The maximum tensile stress endured by the specimen higher than those of the steel in as-rolled condition, and is
before failure, divided by the original cross-sectional area, capable of elastic behavior within these limits.
gives the ultimate tensile strength per unit of area, usually It is imperative that the cold work of drawing not be
called simply the tensile strength. In countries using the overdone, lest the wire become too brittle.
English system, the tensile strength and the other tensile (The tensile test and the drawing process are not perfectly
properties, such as elastic limit and yield strength, are given analogous. In drawing, the lateral compression of the metal by the
in pounds per square inch. It is usual to use a specimen die is an effect similar to cold forging—an effect absent from the
accurately machined to a diameter of 0.505".This has a tensile test.)
cross-section of 0.2 square inch, which is a convenient What we have discussed is the testing of rolled steel.
divisor for converting the measured load on the specimen Wire can be tested similarly, though it is customary to quote
into the stress per square inch. the breaking strength of wire rather than the tensile
While the tensile strength is easily determined with strength.Tensile strength is a property of the material
proper equipment, it is not the most important tensile independent of size, whereas breaking strength is a property
property of steel. More important is the amount of stress it can of the specimen, depending on both tensile strength and
stand without permanent deformation. The specimen elongates sectional area.
as it undergoes constantly increasing loads in the testing Generally, smaller sizes of piano wire have higher tensile
machine. At first this elongation is elastic; that is, if the properties than larger sizes because of the additional drafting
tension is removed the original length will be recovered. As or cold work. Also, wire used for bass string cores generally
the load is further increased an elastic limit is reached, and is made with lower properties, in order to preserve enough
plastic, or permanent deformation begins. The precise elastic malleability so that the wire can be swedged, or flattened at
limit is seldom determined in practice, as the process is the start and finish of the winding. Moreover, some manu-
cumbersome. It requires the alternate application and release facturers make more than one grade of wire, for example,
of increasing loads, with measurement of the gauge length two grades of bass and two grades of treble wire. For the
each time to determine if the behavior is still elastic. most part these different grades and sizes come from the
The tensile property usually obtained instead of the same steel and owe the difference in their properties to the
elastic limit is the yield point, which, in steel, is only slightly amount of drafting and the spacing of annealings in the
above the elastic limit. This is the unit tensile stress at which manufacturing sequence.
the specimen continues to elongate for a period without The yield strength of the wire, which cannot be ex-
any increase in load. The term “yield” is quite descriptive of ceeded in piano stringing and tuning without serious
what takes place. At and above the yield point permanent damage, is determined by a rather arbitrary process known
slips occur along planes in the crystals, until they are arrested as the 0.2 percent offset method. It is generally found to be
by crystal boundaries and broken grains. At first, yielding is about 70 percent of the breaking strength. I do not mean to
distributed throughout the length of the specimen, but as pass lightly over the elastic limit and yield strength. The
the load rises a “neck” starts to develop in the specimen and non-determination of elastic limit, and the use of an
further elongation is concentrated at this neck. After arbitrary method for yield strength, are dictated by practical
necking starts, elongation continues under decreasing loads, considerations, not by any lack of importance of these
because the effective cross-section is decreasing, and this properties. Long and careful practice has shown that this
continues until fracture occurs at the neck. testing method for yield strength gives a valid measure of
The cold work of stretching actually hardens and the two properties in piano wire.
strengthens the stretched steel, so that the true unit stress on the In common with many other materials, steel under high
material at fracture (the load divided by the instantaneous

tensile stress continues to elongate slightly for an indefinite any other means, and to excessively high tension. Remember
time.This elongation is called creep. In most steel uses creep that any tension approaching 70 percent of the breaking strength is
is considered negligible if the temperature is less than 40 dangerously close to the yield strength.
percent of the melting point on the absolute scale, i.e., less A few more words are in order about the properties of
than about 700 degrees F. With piano strings, whose pitch is gray cast iron, which is a more prosaic cousin of piano wire.
so sensitive to a very small change in tension, creep at Its eminent suitability from the standpoint of manufac-
ordinary temperatures is probably a factor in both the quick turing convenience in piano plate work has been mentioned.
loss of pitch in newly strung pianos (so-called primary Its low freezing point (compared with other iron-carbon
creep), and in the long-term loss of
pitch (secondary creep).
Fatigue in metal has been men-
tioned briefly, fatigue strength being the
tolerance of indefinitely repeated cyclic
loads.The high frequency reverse
bending that occurs constantly in a
highly tensioned vibrating string,
particularly at the ends where the
transverse waves are reflected, is surely
high stress cyclic loading, and many
string breaks in playing must be re-
garded as fatigue failures.
Whenever a string is placed in a
piano, it is necessarily cold worked at
several points, such as the bridge pins,
the agraffe, etc. Every non-elastic bend
that is put into the wire tends to harden
the wire by effectively cold working the
steel at that point.The fibers on the
convex side of any plastic bend have
probably been stretched beyond the
yield strength.This point will then be
slightly more brittle than other parts of
the string, and a likely candidate for
ultimate fracture. One such point is the
agraffe. Another is the point of tangency
where the string starts to wind around
the tuning pin. Repeated small tuning
changes subject a short section of the
string to alternate bending and straight-
ening, which, even though slight, tend
to work-harden the steel.This is
probably why so many “old age” string
breaks occur at the tuning pin.
It should be obvious that piano
strings are hard-working elements of
the musical structure of the piano and
we should be careful not to do anything
to make their lot harder. Specifically, we
should avoid subjecting them to
unnecessary plastic bends by kinking or

material), and the proximity to each other of its liquidus and permit use of a material of relatively low unit strength.
solidus temperatures combine to make for sound, uniform One of the properties of gray cast iron, which makes it
castings. particularly suitable for machinery bases, is also to its advan-
Gray cast iron also has about the same coefficient of tage in piano plates.This is its tendency toward internal self-
thermal expansion as steel music wire, which is a factor damping of vibrations.This property, largely due to the
favoring tuning stability. Lighter metals sometimes used for honeycombing with graphite carbon, means that plates of
piano plates have somewhat higher coefficients of thermal gray cast iron are not apt to show objectionable resonance.
expansion. They do not “ring.” Happily, the words “bell metal,” which we
Gray cast iron has good machinability, as anyone who has all have seen cast into some piano plates, are simply not true.
drilled a piano plate has observed.This characteristic is The graphite carbon of gray cast iron makes it very
enhanced by the presence of the carbon in graphite flake difficult to weld. Many piano technicians have had successful
form. experiences in repairing broken plates by welding. It must be
Gray cast iron has low tensile and compressive strength said, however, that the weldability of gray cast iron is poor, and
compared with steel, its ultimate tensile strength being about that these successful repairs are in spite of, not because of, the
25,000/30,000 pounds per square inch. Structural steel has a properties of the metal. After welding, the homogeneity of the
tensile strength about three times as high, and cold drawn casting is gone, and there is sure to be a zone of weakness
piano wire about ten times as high. In piano plates this relativesomewhere. Fortunately the plate is usually over-designed as
low strength is not a particular disadvantage.The plate needs far as structural strength is concerned and the weakness of the
to be heavy enough to afford a solid platform for the strings weld repair is not necessarily fatal. Sometimes there is no
to stand on while they are shaking the soundboard. Further- alternative to attempting repair by welding and it is not the
more, the parts of the plate must be large enough so that there author’s intent to write against it. But due to the micro-
will be little deflection under load.These two requirements structure of the material, welding cannot be thought of as a
reliable means of making broken gray
cast iron “as good as new.”
Of course, there are other iron
Pure Sound materials to be found in pianos in

smaller quantities.Tuning pins are made
Top quality Stainless of cold-drawn steel wire, not so hard,
considerably larger in diameter than
Steel Piano Wire piano wire.The many steel screws are
made of steel that is made brittle by the
WIRE DRAWING A.D. 1540
presence of sulphur, so that it will thread
from 1600 N/mm - mid 19th century
2 easily and cleanly. The leg plates of
to 2200 N/mm2 - modern pianos (short scaling) grand pianos are made of a tougher cast
iron than the gray cast iron of the string
Most versatile high tech piano wire based on latest plates.They are lower in carbon, much
developments in stainless steel processing. lower in silicon and higher in manga-
Tuning stability better than average. nese, and their carbon is not in graphite
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Prices in Euros: approx. 95¢ to the Euro at June 2000 malleability and less likelihood of
500 g - 15.00 250 g - 8.50 - 125 g - 5.50 (0.700 mm - 1.50 mm) fracture under shock than gray cast iron.
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E-mail: info@puresound-wire.com

Piano Plate Breakage: A Case Stud
By Steve Brady, RPT
Journal Editor
T
he story I relate here is about an event, or series moving and resetting the plate, then that action may result in
of events, in the life of Marnie Squire, an plate failure.”
Associate member of the Cincinnati, OH, Sandy West, a later piano service manager for Baldwin, elabo-
chapter of PTG. She has been kind enough to rated:
provide the documentation from her case for use in this “It is my considered opinion that a broken plate cannot
issue of the Journal. “If it can help save someone else from be blamed or attributed to a typical tuning/service call. My
the kind of nightmare I went through,” she says, “I’m happy experience is that strings will break before the plate will. A
to share my story.” broken plate is usually the result of some major trauma, such
At about 10:30 a.m. on Friday, July 2, 1993, Marnie as the piano being dropped or the result of a defect in the
Squire arrived to tune a small Fischer grand piano at a home manufacture of the plate. In both such instances the actual
in Middletown, OH.The piano, an Aeolian product, had not crack or break may not show up for quite some time. It will
been tuned in 13 years. Squire played the piano briefly to develop over time as an eventual result of the continued pres-
evaluate its condition and found several keys not playing as sure on the fault by all the strings. Simply tuning the piano
well as some damper problems.The piano was 37 cents flat. would not cause such damage.”
After bringing the piano back to a condition of rough Dr.Albert Sanderson pointed out that Marnie Squire’s pitch-
playability, Squire began the process of raising pitch. Using a raising method had been entirely appropriate, then added:
Sanderson Accu-Tuner™, she completed a “normal” first pass “It has been my observation that plates that break under
and had nearly completed a second pass.Then, “I was about to normal tuning stress have a flaw in the casting that can be
tune the second or third string from the bottom of the bass seen when the break is examined. A flaw could be a bubble
section. I played the keys and a huge ‘bang!’ happened. I had in the casting or a crack that has been growing gradually over
no idea what had happened and was very shaken.” Looking the years owing to metal fatigue.”
over the piano she saw a crack in the second plate strut from Noted piano rebuilder Tony Geers reiterated the now-familiar
the top and another crack in the tuning pin area at the bass/ theme:
tenor break. Mortified, she called the owner of the piano, who “Based on the information we have at hand, most nota-
was at work and explained what had happened. bly the fact that the piano plate broke in both the tuning pin
The piano owner filed a lawsuit over the broken plate. area and treble bar, it would be our conclusion that faulty
The owner enlisted the aid of another piano technician in the installation of the plate during the manufacturing process is
area as an “expert” witness and this technician (whose name is the most likely cause for the breakage. It is impossible for a
omitted here) told the piano owner that Squire had brought tuner to break a plate by tuning alone. There must be other
the pitch up too fast, that she didn’t know what she was doing, circumstances present, i.e., faulty manufacturing, flaw in the
and that she had actually b ro kenthe plate! cast iron, piano dropped, etc.Tuning works against the strength
In September of 1993, Marnie Squire retained an attor- of the cast-iron plate. Over-tuning would cause string break-
ney to defend herself in the lawsuit and the long process of age long before any possible damage to the plate could oc-
gathering evidence began. Several PTG members sprang to cur.
Squire’s aid by examining the piano and writing opinions, “If the plate was improperly installed at the factory, plate
some even performing sophisticated analyses based on the breakage is a very real possibility. Improper installation could
physical evidence. From over two dozen written opinions be the bending of the plate over the pinblock or securing
placed at my disposal by Marnie Squire, I have excerpted a bolts or screws. When tension is added by tuning, extreme
number of relevant quotations. stress is focused on the bent portion of the plate; such as in
Willard Sims, piano service manager at Baldwin from 1946 to the area of the tuning pins and treble bars.”
1984, wrote on September 17, 1993: A letter from prominent piano technician and educator Jim
“The tuning of a piano by an experienced technician Geiger stated:
will not cause the string plate to fail.” In another letter dated “The conclusion is that a normal piano plate, designed
April 10, 1994, Sims reiterated this stance: “I repeat my state- to withstand 40 tons of pressure would not be broken by the
ment that the tuning of a piano will not cause plate failure. If tension from the piano strings regardless of the applied ten-
a rebuilder refurbished and perhaps rescaled the piano, re- sion, how fast the tension is applied and at what point of the

Case Study
scale the tension is applied. In the piano factories the tension “There are only two ways I know of that a tuner can
is applied as fast as the tuner can bring the strings up to pitch. break a piano plate that is not defective while servicing a
Indeed, it should not be possible to break a normal piano piano in the home. One way is to excessively tighten the
plate with string tension alone, because the strings would nose bolt that supports the plate in the center area of the
break first.There is just not enough margin between the ac- piano. This is an adjustment not normally made outside of a
tual string tension and the tension at which failure will occur piano rebuilding shop.The other way is to take a sledge ham-
for the piano wire to be able to produce the force necessary mer to it. In other words, it is virtually impossible for a piano
to cause a good piano plate to fracture.” tuner to break a plate during the normal tuning and pitch-
University technician Rolf von Walthausen added some back- raising of a piano unless the plate is already defective and
ground on the material, then pointed out that some piano models ready to break, in which case any tuner, regardless of skill or
frequently suffer cracked plates. In this particular case, it turned out method of tuning, will be the unwitting agent of such break-
that many Aeolian grands had suffered the same fate. von Walthausen age by fate alone. Even in a worst-case scenario, in which a
wrote: tuner sought to sabotage a piano by stretching all the strings
“Piano plates are made of cast iron, which is a material far above standard pitch, chances are that the strings would
that is extremely hard, but also brittle. Properly cast and in- break long before the plate would. Tuners are sometimes
stalled, it is capable of withstanding tremendous pressure from blamed for plate breakage by understandably distraught pi-
the strings, which are fastened to and held in tension by the ano owners, but in every such case the blame is misguided
plate. Improperly cast or installed, a cast-iron plate could eas- and completely unjustified.”
ily break or crack. Even if piano wire, which is a steel alloy In expectation that the lawsuit would come to trial,
with great tensile strength, is stretched quickly beyond a cer- Marnie Squire asked Jim Ellis to look at the piano and to
tain stiffness, the wire will break far, far before exerting a render an opinion from his background as an engineer. After
force on the piano plate that would cause breakage or any examining the piano, Ellis wrote a formal analysis (included in
type of damage to the plate. this issue of PTJ) proving that the plate was poorly designed.
“Some brands of pianos have frequent occurrence of plate “What I couldn’t understand,” he said,“is why the plate hadn’t
breakage or cracking. It is rare to find an old Bechstein grand broken when the piano was first strung in the factory.”
piano, for example, without a crack in the plate. Opinions Enter Paul Monachino, who had worked for the now-defunct
from experts differ as to why this is so (poor casting, design or Aeolian Corporation during the years when the subject piano was
installation), but o ne thing is never disputed: tuning or pitch manufactured. Delivering the death-blow to the plaintiff’’s case,
raising was never the cause.” Monachino wrote:
Nevin Essex, another highly regarded technician from the “This problem is nothing new in this style piano. I have
Cincinnati area, wrote: seen this particular plate cracked in the same place many, many
“I have been teaching piano tuning and technology times.The fault lies in the construction of the plate and not in
through the Guild, at universities and on my own since 1982. the tuning of the piano.” (Monachino’s emphases —SB)
I have researched teaching methods and developed my own. The night before the case was scheduled for trial, the
Nowhere have I ever seen or heard any scientific evidence piano owner’s “expert” witness backed out, leaving the
that suggests that a piano tuner can break a plate. My under- prosecution with no case at all.The shame of the whole story
standing is that plates are designed to withstand much more is that Marnie Squire had been placed in such a position to
tension than exists in any piano. I have never heard any cred- begin with. Besides having to spend hundreds of dollars in
ible account of a piano tuner breaking a plate. I was never attorney’s fees, she was “a nervous wreck” for the year that
taught nor do I teach any technique or method designed to passed before resolution.The silver lining to this cloud is that,
prevent a plate from breaking while tuning.Tuning methods because of what she went through, and the unanimous
that emphasize raising pitch evenly do so for the purpose of opinions provided by the real experts, this kind of nightmare
achieving a good tuning, not for preventing the plate from — a lawsuit obviously without basis in fact — should not
breaking. have to be suffered by any piano technician again.
The author of The Piano Book, Larry Fine, weighed in with
an opinion that even contributed a touch of humor to the situation:

An Analysis of a Broken Plate
By Jim Ellis, RPT
Knoxville, TN Chapter
Background
W
hen Steve Brady called and asked me if I would surprised that that section of the capo bar had not broken
contribute an article about broken piano plates when the piano was first chipped at the factory. I was later
(to replace an article promised by someone else, told that some of them did.
but which had never actually materialized), his deadline was The following is the analysis that I presented to the
just five days away and I was leaving on a trip in three days. tuner-technician’s attorney and I was well aware that I
When I returned it would be too late. Because of the time might be called upon to present it in court later on. Fortu-
constraint Steve and I decided that I should just use an nately for everyone the suit was withdrawn the day before
analysis that I did back in May, 1994 for the Journal article. the hearing.This was such a no-winner! The design of the
The piano was a 1973 J&C Fischer that had been piano was, in my opinion, just asking for trouble.
neglected for several years and allowed to go 37 cents flat. The original analysis included four figures, which are
The scale design had only three major divisions, no agraffes, included here, and eight photographs — primarily for the
and the forward termination for the strings was a long education of the attorney — that do not appear here
curved capo bar that ran all the way from #1 in the bass to because they are no longer available.
#88 in the treble.The middle section spanned 32 triple-
string unisons without any additional support and the Tuning Procedure Used by Mrs. Squire
bearing angle of the strings against the bar was excessive. Mrs. Squire and I discussed the procedure she had used to
The dimensional cross section of the bar was minimal, and tune the piano just before the plate broke. The piano had
there were no shoulder (nose) bolts to secure the plate struts been neglected and not tuned for more than a decade. Mrs.
to any beams underneath. Immediately after the tuner- Squire measured its pitch and found it to be about 37 cents
technician brought the piano up to standard pitch and flat. In tonal nomenclature, a “cent” is 1/100 part of a
began to check the tuning, the middle section of the capo semitone; a “semitone” is 1/12 part of an octave; and an
bar broke. octave represents a ratio of 2:1 in frequency, or pitch. In
Another technician claimed that the plate broke going up the musical scale, each of the 12 semitones in an
because the tuner brought the piano back up to standard octave increases by the 12th root of 2, or 1.059463094
pitch in one tuning rather than in several small increments above the one below it.Therefore, being “37 cents flat”
spread out over a period of days, weeks or months.The means that the frequency (pitch) of the notes on the piano
owner filed a lawsuit against the tuner for an amount that, in was about 98 percent of what it should have been at stan-
my opinion, was far in excess of the actual worth of the dard pitch (A=440Hz).
piano. I was asked to be an “expert witness” for the tuner. When a piano is flat (low in pitch) by this much,
Although the piano was located in the Cincinnati area some current procedure calls for raising the pitch of each string
260 miles from where I live, I agreed to do it for net very, very slightly above its normal frequency so that when
expenses only. The intentions of the piano owner may have it settles after tuning it will be at, or very near, the desired
been perfectly honest, but his/her decision to sue was based pitch. It is well within the limits of good tuning practice to
upon an erroneous conclusion by another technician and raise the pitch of a piano by 37 cents at one time. Obviously,
the result could have set a precedent that would have been the tuner then repeats the tuning in order to obtain a finer
absolutely wrong! tuning, since the piano will always settle back some.This
After taking a good look at this particular piano I was procedure is accepted and recommended throughout the

industry. It is my understanding that Mrs. Squire had and brittle. Its properties depend upon the amount of
actually finished the tuning, and was playing chords to carbon and other impurities that it contains, and these can
evaluate the job, when the plate finally broke. vary widely. For these reasons, a quality grand piano is
Mrs. Squire was following a tuning procedure that was, designed so that the areas of high stress concentration in the
and is, appropriate for the occasion. I can find no fault at all plate are those that are under compression, not tension. For
with what she did. maximum stability and strength, piano plates are almost
always cast in one piece. They are usually finished with a
The Actual Cause of the Plate’s Failure bronze-lacquer-base paint.
In order to describe clearly what happened, and what For purposes of illustration, Photo 1 is a photograph of
caused this plate to break in this piano, I must first outline the tuning-pin area of a high-quality grand piano, not the
the most basic principles of cast-iron plates in grand pianos. piano with the broken plate. [E DITOR ’S N OTE : Remember
none of the photos referenced in this article are available for
publication. — SB] The photo shows the reinforcing bars
Basic Construction of a Piano Plate that are a part of the plate structure, tuning pins, agraffes,
The plate of a piano is the structure that provides a very capo bar and strings. The bars that run parallel to the strings
strong, rigid and stable framework inside which all the and carry the load of the tension of all the strings lie mostly
strings are strung. It is what makes the modern piano above the strings.The total tension can be anything from
capable of staying in tune for weeks and months at a time. 30,000 to 50,000 pounds, depending upon the size and
Piano plates are made of gray cast iron, and not “bell metal,” scaling of the piano. Because the strings are all pulling
as some people believe. inward on these bars in a plane that lies below their
Cast iron is chosen because it is economical, mechani- centerlines, the bars have a tendency to arch upward in the
cally stable and has a low coefficient of thermal expansion. middle (See Figure 1).
It is very strong under compression, but weak under tension, Continued on Next Page
Figure 1

When a bar is bent, the material in the inner part of the Photos 5 and 6, taken at slightly different angles, are
bend is compressed, but that of the outer part of the curve is close-ups of the break at the right-hand end of the bar.
under tension and is elongated. Cast iron will not withstand Photo 7 shows the cracked plate at the left-hand end of
great bending forces because of its low tensile strength. the bar.
The tendency of a piano plate to bow upward in the Photos 5-6-7 clearly show that no agraffes are present.
middle is normally restrained by anchoring it to massive Instead, the treble capo bar has been extended all the way
wooden beams under the soundboard using shoulder bolts through the piano to act as a common forward termination
that extend through the soundboard.There are other
shoulder bolts in this piano, but they are not visible in the
photo.The outer perimeter of the plate is bolted to a very
rigid rim made of laminated hardwood to hold the plate
perfectly flat, and not allow it to bend under the tension of
all the strings. By anchoring the plate in this way, the only
major forces acting on it are compressive, not tensile.
The plate flange at the front of the piano, the bar that
extends across the width of the piano, and the bars that
connect A-B and C-D together, all form a very rigid
structure. Another part of the casting extends downward
from point X and attaches to a massive “cross-beam” that Pinblock
traverses across the width of the piano below the Figure 2
soundboard. The point where several of the plate bars
converge, is one of the regions of highest stress concentra-
tion in a grand piano.The part of the casting that ties this for all the strings.This appears to have been a cost-cutting
part of the plate to the cross-beam (sometimes referred to as measure by the manufacturer. Photos 5 and 6 show that the
the “horn” because of its shape), greatly improves the bar jumped upward and toward the rear of the piano when
strength and stability of the plate by securing it (out in the it broke. Judging from my first-hand observation of the
span across the piano) to the massive structure under the piano on May 2, 1994, and from the photographs I made,
piano. the angle of rise of the strings as they came forward from
Photo 2 is a close-up of the tuning-pin area of the under the bar must have been at least 30 to 35 degrees
piano shown in Photo 1. It clearly shows how the strings in before the bar broke. I consider this much bearing angle to
a grand piano extend through the agraffes, which form the be excessive. An angle of 16 to 18 degrees would have been
forward termination of the speaking lengths of the strings. more appropriate (See Figure 2).
Agraffes are made of machined brass, with threaded studs at Photo 8 is a view looking inside the action compart-
the bottom, which are screwed into threaded holes in the ment of the piano, with the keys and action removed. The
plate. In this division of the piano, they have three eyelets, sostenuto rod is in the lower foreground, and the damper
one for each of the three strings in each unison (note). flanges and wires are behind it. The bottoms of the dampers
Making and installing agraffes is time-consuming and costly can be seen above the wires. The “belly rail” (to which the
because it is detailed work. Nevertheless, this is the preferred front edge of the soundboard is glued) lies behind the
way to terminate the strings of a grand piano, except for the damper wires.The cross-beam is just under the belly rail.
high treble divisions, where a capo bar is usually used. The open space between the damper wires (middle of the
photo) under the cross-over between the bass and tenor
Construction of the Plate That Failed strings is where the “horn” (described earlier) would be, if
Photo 3 is a picture of the inside of the Fischer piano with there were one, but there is not. Neither are there any
the broken plate.The bar (H-J) in the foreground is broken shoulder bolts to secure the plate bars or string plate to a
at point J, and protrudes upward and slightly to the rear of massive under-structure.
the piano. The pinblock is the laminated hardwood plank that
Photo 4 is a closer view of the broken bar (H—J). A securely holds the tuning pins. It is normally fitted to, and
total of 30 three-string unisons can be seen in this division rests against, a flange on the under-side of the plate, behind
of the piano. the tuning pins, so that the pinblock cannot move under the

Figure 3
tension of the strings. In this Fischer piano, a wide gap exists strings in the piano. The length of line (O-G) represents the
between the pinblock and the plate flange, a condition that total tension in the speaking length of the strings. The
is considered poor construction by most piano builders and length of lines (O—A) and (O-B) represent the total
rebuilders. tension in the short lengths of the strings between the capo
bar and the plate bearing surface for the estimated bearing
Scenario of the Break angles of 30 and 35 degrees respectively.
There are 30 unisons (notes) in this middle division of the The original scale design of this piano is not available to
piano. Each unison has three strings. We may assume that me, therefore I am constrained to estimate what the total
the total tension of all the strings in this piano, when tuned tension of the piano, and of the strings in this division
to standard pitch, would be somewhere between 35,000 and would be. I believe that it is reasonable to assume an average
38,000 pounds, and that the average tension of each string tension of 155 lbs. for the strings in this division, as stated
in this division would be about 155 pounds. As I indicated above. The total string tension in this division would then
earlier in this report, I believe the bearing angle of the be 3 X 30 X 155 = 13950 pounds. I am also constrained to
strings at the capo bar was at least 30 degrees, and perhaps as assume that the tensions of the strings were all equalized
much as 35 degrees before the bar broke. It is impossible across the capo bar.The graphic analysis assumes this.
now to measure the angle, because the bar is broken, but if I However, because of the excessive bearing angle at the capo
imagine that it is intact in the right place, that is the ap- bar and therefore excessive friction, this may not be the case,
proximate number that I get. which would make the situation actually worse than what I
Therefore: have shown.
Tension of each string (pounds) = 155 If the string bearing-angle across the capo bar were only
Number of unisons in this division = 30 30 degrees, line (O-A) would represent that vector. Com-
Number of strings per unison =3 pleting the parallelogram (lines A-F and F-G), gives the
Estimated string bearing angle under capo = 30 resultant force represented by line (O-F), and indicates that
degrees minimum, 35 degrees maximum. the force was 7300 pounds upward at an angle of 15 degrees
Figure 3 is a vector analysis of the combined force of all toward the rear of the piano. This breaks down into compo-
the strings against the capo bar that broke. The force vectors nent forces of 7000 pounds straight up and 2000 lbs. toward
are taken from the origin (O), which represents the point of the rear. If, on the other hand, the bearing angle had been
contact of the strings against the capo bar in this division of 35 degrees, then the resultant would have been 8450
the piano. The horizontal axis represents the plane of the Continued on Next Page

pounds upward at an angle break was complete; the

of 17.5 degrees to the rear. right end of the bar flew
The component forces on up an inch or two, and
the capo bar would then then fell back down to
have been 8000 pounds where it is now, as the
straight up and 2650 plate cracked at the other
pounds toward the rear. end of the bar due to the
Figure 4, attached, sudden prying action of
shows the general pattern the bar as its right end flew
of stress in this division of Figure 4 upward.
the capo bar. Forces In my opinion, the full
pressing upward and 88-note capo bar in this
outward against the curve of the bar would create “stress piano was an inexpensive and inferior substitute for much
risers” at the bottom of each end.Tensile strains (for which better construction.The long curved span of the capo bar
cast iron is weak) would then focus at these points and tend was unrestrained in the middle.The string bearing-angle
to tear the bar apart here. was excessive. In my opinion, this bar was strained to its
When the tensile strain exceeded the low elastic limit of limit as soon as the piano was tuned at the factory. It held
the casting at the right end of the bar, it broke.The fracture for the first few years, and then for the final decade of the
appears to have begun at the bottom, near the front, and piano’s life while the string tension slowly decreased as the
moved upward in a matter of a few microseconds until the piano was neglected and allowed to go flat.Then, when the
piano was finally tuned back up to
standard pitch, the weakened bar
broke.
Conclusion
In my opinion the plate in this piano
broke as a result of inferior and faulty
design. It would have broken, no
matter who tuned the piano. Fortu-
nately, piano plates rarely break, but
when one does, it is not uncommon
for it to do so some years after the
piano was built, and the cause is almost
always a fault of some sort in the plate.
Stress fatigue in metal does occur with
the passage of time, and microscopic
cracks do grow until the part finally
fails. In my opinion Marnie Squire was
not at fault in any way, and to con-
clude that the plate in this piano broke
because of any negligence or improper
technique on her part would be
utterly absurd.

Welding Cracked Plates:
A Proven Method
By Wilford Young, RPT
Salt Lake City, UT Chapter
A
broken plate can be welded if one wants to go and keybed. It will have pulled a nearby nosebolt out of its
to all the work. First, one must determine how supporting post — stripping the threads.
much the plate has warped or changed shape. It I use a jig to pull vertical plates back into their original
makes no sense to weld the plate in its broken shape. (See Figure 1) After releasing string tension and
configuration.That’s like tuning a low-pitched piano removing the strings in the break area I drill a 3/4" hole
“where it’s at.” The problem with welding a plate “where through the soundboard. Then I insert a long 3/4" continu-
it’s at” is that forevermore the piano will be in that same ous-threaded bolt
shape — the shape of “where it’s at.” through the hole and
In grands, the most common break results in the plate through blocks placed in
and pinblock dropping a few millimeters. Sometimes the the front and back of the
pinblock will make contact with the action. Removing the piano, and begin pulling
action when this has happened can be a real challenge, but the plate back to where
with persistence it can be done. Loosening the strings is a it belongs. The correct
must. position is determined
by checking the
Preliminaries downbearing of a string
To begin the repair, unhook the strings from their hitch pins laid across the bridge and
in the area to be worked on (about two octaves). Tie them fastened to its hitch pin.
to one side. This is required before grinding, drilling and In some cases it may not
welding begins. Once the action is removed, a small hydrau- be possible to bring the
lic jack can be used to raise the plate back to its original plate back that last one
position. or two millimeters
In vertical pianos, the most common break occurs mid- without danger of
section just behind the keybed. The plate will likely have breaking the plate in a View showing the completed weld and how the straps
moved forward to where it has lodged against the action different place. But don’t were placed across the break.
throw the piano away,
even if you are unable to achieve positive downbearing.
After all,Vladimir Horowitz’s Steinway had negative
downbearing during his later years of concertizing.
Just try closing the gap in the crack as much as possible.
One will find that a lot of force is required to move the
plate even a small amount. As the plate moves closer to
position, the nut on the jig will get so tight that it nearly
strips the threads of the 3/4" bolt, so don’t try using a
smaller bolt.
Preparation for the Weld

Proper procedure requires that a “V” groove be made where
the weld is to take place. Cast iron is easy to grind and drill.
A small hand-held, high-speed grinder works quickly. If
A typical break in a vertical piano. Straps of steel were used for reinforcement.
limited space prevents use of a grinder, then try a 3/8" drill

quickly peen the weld metal with a ball-peen hammer. This
causes the metal to “flow” as it shrinks during cooling, at the
same time adding strength to the weld and reducing the
chance of small cracks showing up. Before proceeding, let
the weld cool until you can place your hand on it. If you
Shows how a groove is cut into the broken strut to allow the weld to
bond the two broken parts together.
proceed faster, cracks will occur somewhere else in the plate,
maybe as far away as the opposite end. Do not try to speed
up the cooling process with a fan, or cold cloths or water. It
with various size bits (sharpened). will mean failure.
The ideal situation is to have the broken plate removed What happens if you get in a rush? A friend asked me to
from the piano and delivered to one’s shop where it is free weld his initials on the cast-iron lid of his Dutch oven. I
from encumbrances. Another advantage of this is that it asked him if he wanted it done in the manner I do piano
allows the plate to spring back into its original shape, plates (very slowly and costly) or a quick blacksmith job
eliminating the need for jigs, etc. Most of my welding, with cheap welding rod. He chose the fast method, where I
however, takes place in the customer’s living room. would weld continuously nonstop till finished. So I did it.
To protect the piano from sparks, get some old towels or When I finished, I observed that the lid was laced with
cloths at a thrift shop. Dampen them (but not dripping wet). spider-web cracks. I was surprised the lid did not shatter, but
Spread them out to protect the keybed from beads of hot Continued on Next Page
metal. Also, stuff damp cloth between the plate and the
wood behind it (bridge and soundboard). One can safely
weld a half-inch away from wood if there is a wet cloth in
between. Protect the customer’s floor with sheets of ply-
wood.
Open some doors and windows for circulation of air.
Welding creates a certain amount of smoke, but ordinarily it
is not enough to leave a smell in the house when you are
gone.
For a welding machine, I use a 180 amp, 220 volt stick
welder. I connect to the clothes-dryer outlet in the house.
Most of the time I need an extension cord (No. 8 wire).
Mine is 50 feet long. A word of caution: the clothes-dryer
outlet is not suitable for continuous heavy-duty welding.
But since we are welding in short intervals of just a few
seconds at a time, this should not be a problem.
It would be a mistake for a person to attempt welding a
plate without any previous welding experience. If you are
inexperienced, it is best if you go over the welding part with
someone who has done cast welding before.
The Actual Weld

Take your time.Weld only 3/8 inch to _ inch at a time, then
Figure 1 — Jig for pulling vertical plates to original shape.

Welding Cracked Plates
the outer rim was holding it together – good enough for I smooth off the burrs and bumps with a grinder. In a
making stew, we decided. grand, where the break is exposed to view, I finish the job
A special welding rod is used for doing cast iron. It with Bondo in the fashion of doing an auto body repair.
contains mostly nickel and is not cheap. I can circle my Feathering off the outer edges, sanding, then spraying with
fingers around a $200 bundle. The reason nickel is good is gold paint, completes the job to where one would not be
because of its flowing characteristics. It also shrinks less and aware of any repair. In a vertical piano, I may omit the
is more ductile than iron, and bonds well. Bondo application and simply end the repair by smoothing
the weld with a grinder then spray painting.
Success Rate
This technique has worked for me for more than 40 years.
In all this time, I have never had a single call telling me that
the repair failed. I have seen welds by other people fail and I
have learned from their mistakes. I allow three working days
to do a welding job and charge according to the amount of
time taken away from my regular tuning appointments. To
do the job right requires moving a pickup-load of equip-
ment to the job site.
How About Brazing?

Brazing is a process in which the bond is made by using
melted brass. This requires taking the plate out of the piano,
putting it in a furnace and heating it to red hot, then
through an access hole in the furnace door performing a
brass braze using an acetylene torch. It is then allowed to
cool slowly to room temperature. Since brass is not as strong
as cast iron, the repair will likely fail. I have seen it happen
several times and have been asked on two occasions to redo
The complete repair. (Steinway grand) the repair correctly.
To try to arc weld over a brass repair is futile. It can’t be
I use 1/8th-inch welding rod. I set the current at be- done unless all the brass is first removed. Brass will vaporize
tween 100 and 120 amps. (almost explode) when subjected to the heat of an arc
welder.
Reinforcing the Repair
To ensure that the repair will not fail, I reinforce it with a Other Types of Plate Repair
strap (or more than one) of cold-rolled steel, usually one One plate that I was asked to weld had previously been
inch wide, 1/8" thick and about four inches long. If the bolted together in an attempt to keep the parts from
crack is a long one (more than five inches long) I will use shifting. But the procedure had not worked because the
more than one strap. I do this to ensure that the repair will string tension was simply too great for the plate to sustain a
be stronger than the original plate. Simply to weld the break tuning.
without reinforcement leaves the chance that it will break I have also heard of another repair method called “lock-
again close to where it broke in the first place. One never stitch welding.” It is unusual in that no heat is used. Not
knows for sure just what caused the plate to break. On having seen it in operation, though, I can’t comment on its
occasion I have seen small bubbles in the break area – a success. All I can say is that I would be afraid to trust it.To
result of faulty casting at the foundry. Plate failure is not a me, the work involved in a plate repair is too great an
respecter of brand names; it happens even with the best of expenditure of time and effort to risk having it end up in
them — Steinways, Bechsteins — the spectrum runs from failure and getting a call telling me that it did not work.
large to small, expensive to cheap.

A Double-Safe
Engineered Plate Repair
By Richard Oliver Snelson
Central Illinois Chapter
Those of us that have heard a piano plate crack know the

sick, depressing feeling that comes at the end of the great
chord that sounds as the relaxing strings and cracking plate
shout in fortississimo relief. It would be even more depress-
ing if you had written a rather large check for the piano the
day before. I’m sure we would feel just as bad if the piano
belonged to a customer. In this business we pick ourselves
up and go to work. Right?
Searching through back issues of the Piano Technicians
Journal, I found a number of articles on plate repair – most
of them using welding or bracing with bolted on steel Photo 2
gussets. A lot of these articles had notes from the technical
editor that piano plate repair isn’t always successful. That
wasn’t too encouraging, but probably true. I had met My Design Criteria
Wilford Young at the Pacific Northwest Conference in 1. Repair the plate in the piano, with only a few strings
Provo, UT, and had discussed with him a previous repair and dampers removed. This is important because of the
that I had completed on a Cable Conover plate. Wilford has large cost involved in removing, reinstalling and string-
a lot of expertise in plate repair and gave me some good ing the plate.
suggestions on plate welding. From this information and my 2. The repair should not rely solely on welding or cast-
own experience as an engineer I started to design a new iron stitching but should use both methods. The
approach to plate repair. welding should remain simple and able to be done by
any good local welder using a high nickel rod.
Photo 1 Photo 3

of problems with breaking both the drills and taps.
The next step in the repair was to install metal stitching
pins down the length of the crack. Each pin is installed so
that it overlaps the previous pin by a small amount. Pin
length is selected so that it goes nearly through the plate
strut.
The Steps for Installing the Pins

1. Drill the required hole using the bit furnished by Lock-
Photo 4 N-Stitch™. (See Photo 1) It’s important to maintain
the drill at right angles to the plate web. A good drilling
lube is used for each of the following steps.
3. The repair should blend with the plate and not stick out 2. Determine the required depth for the pin’s shoulder
like a sore thumb. and adjust the stop on the spot facer. Again with the
drill at right angles spot face the hole.
The Repair 3. Clean out the hole using compressed air and then using
The piano was a Baldwin 6’3” and had a cracked web at the the supplied Lock-N-Stitch tap cut the threads in the
juncture of the third strut from the bass end where it joins hole. Not holding the tap at right angles as it starts will
the primary bass strut which is held down by the nose bolt quickly ruin the hole!
and cap nut. Advice from Delwin D. Fandrich was to find 4. Clean out the hole again and now the pin is screwed
what may have caused the break in the first place and fix into place. (See Photo 2) Coat it with a liquid locking
that first. After a careful search I found the bass strut nose solution like Loc-Tight before driving it. As the shoul-
bolt was totally floating in the woodblock that provides der seats in the spot face, the pin is tightened until it
threads and support for it. I had checked the nut for tight- shears off at the thin neck placed there for just that
ness before I started, but had not checked the bolt’s tightness purpose. This leaves about 1/8” of the head of the pin
in the wooden block. Loss of the bolt’s hold-down power sticking out of the hole. Use a grinder on this and
let the strut rise as the piano was brought to pitch.This simply grind in flush with the plate web.To solidly seat
small rise was enough to crack the joining strut.The block the shoulder in the spot face I use a prick punch and
was replaced with a new hard maple block with the bolt tap it several times around the outside edge.
screwed into position. 5. Continue installing the metal stitching pins down the
Next, I removed strings and dampers on each side of crack; each pin installed so that it overlaps the previous
the strut and protected the remaining strings with cardboard pin. (See Photo 3)
around the repair area, using old blankets to cover every-
thing else on the piano except 10 inches of the broken strut.
A special heat-resistant fiberglass welder’s material was
pushed under the strut and over the protected strings. A thin
steel plate was then slipped under the strut and on top of
the fiberglass material. The piano had been moved to a
concrete floor away from all carpet and flammable material.
This article is not intended to be a tutorial on the use of
metal stitching pins. However I will cover the basic process,
which will give you a good idea as to what’s involved. For
detailed information on Lock-N-Stitch, contact the Lock-
N-Stitch International Company in Turlock, CA.Their
phone number is 800-736-8261.They have a very good
video that explains and demonstrates the process. The
special taps, drills, spot facer and pins to complete a repair
run around $150. I purchase backups of those items because
Photo 5

A Double-Safe Engineered Plate Repair
4. Next came the welding using a high nickel rod and

electric arc. Each one inch weld was completed and
immediately peened across its length with a pointed
welding hammer. I think this tends to cut down on high
stress areas in the weld and surrounding cast.Take your
time at this point and let each weld cool before doing
the next one. Since each weld is at right angles to the
strut crack and over 1” long they have a lot of strength
and will solidly hold the gusset in place. (See Photo 5)
With the welding complete and a then a little grinding
to clean up both the welds and gusset, it was time to test the
repair. It took about two hours to remove the protective
covers, replace the strings and bring the piano to pitch. (See
Photo 6) Thanks to the good help from Del Fandrich and all
Photo 6 the individuals that had written Journal articles on plate
repair, it held.
To complete the repair took several more hours to
A few words of caution about metal stitching – I had contour the ends of the brace and flatten the tops on each
learned the hard way that the cast-metal pieces to be joined side of the welds. Auto-body putty and lot of elbow grease
using metal stitching (Lock-N-Stitch®) must be held tightly
together or the seam will grow wider as the pins are installed.
C-clamps are not enough. Also, attempting to metal stitch a
plate area that had been previously welded is very difficult
because of the extreme hardness of the cast around the weld.
Drilling for the pins is all but impossible.
From reading the “pianotech” discussions on plate repair,
I understand that individuals are using only Lock-N-Stitch
for plate repair and have been successful with it. I wanted to
go beyond metal stitching and build the plate up to where it
would be as strong or stronger than when it came from the
factory.This would involve a gusset and some welding.
Steps for Welding

1. A 1/8”-thick metal gusset was cut from mild steel to
extend several inches on each side of the plate crack. It Photo 7
was then ground to provide 1/4" welding slots in a
horizontal direction. Each slot would allow a 1” long
horizontal weld. Slots were placed at the top and bottom did the job. (See Photo 7) I sprayed a coat of red-oxide
of the gusset on both sides of the crack. primer on the steel and then finished with a coat of gold
2. The gusset was then fit to the plate strut by heating it paint.This didn’t quite match, but will be changed later
and pounding with a ball peen hammer.Very little when I put a new pin block in the piano. Several piano techs
shaping was needed for this repair. have looked at the piano and each has asked, “Just where did
3. The gusset was then clamped to the plate strut and holes you repair it?” If they can’t find it, that’s good enough for me.
were drilled and spot faced for Lock-N-Stitch pins. I don’t mean to hide the fact that a plate repair has been
These pins would hold the gusset in place for welding, done. I place an engraved plaque on the plate stating that this
plus add a lot of additional strength to the repair. After piano and plate has been repaired by Oliver Piano Services.
tapping the holes, each pin was installed through the
gusset. After grinding them off, nothing showed on the
sides. No bolts sticking out! (See Photo 4)

Unbelievable!
By Carman Gentile, RPT
Redwood, CA Chapter
Sometimes an experience will confirm what decided I had to at least see this piano myself.
we already know: that a properly designed When I arrived at the client’s home, the piano was
and installed piano plate is a lot stronger than indeed just as described (See Photo 1). My examina-
it needs to be. tion revealed no cracks or fractures, the plate resting
securely on the spacers, (See Photos 2 & 3) and the
I received a call from the owner of a 1906 Starr 5’4" pitch 50 cents flat. Imagine my astonishment when my
grand (#64759). She said that in 1995 she removed all new client added that the piano had been moved three
the plate screws and nosebolt nuts in the sincere but times since the fasteners were lost in 1995.
mistaken belief that she could lift out the “harp” to Somehow this piano’s plate had survived having all
clean the soundboard. She gave up trying to lift the 14 plate screws and seven nose bolt nuts removed while
plate and eventually all the fasteners were lost. Now, under tension and then tipped and moved three times
five years later, she called me to ask if I could replace over a five-year period. This piano’s history was as
unbelievable as it was unprecedented. By now the
owner was aware she had “made a terrible mistake”
and readily agreed to sign a statement I drew up which
states that “...the plate may crack or break at any time.”
Then I measured the diameter and depth of each plate
screw hole and the diameters and thread counts of the
nose bolts and also took a few photographs.
My next step was to consult my colleagues for
advice and locate replacement fasteners. I described
this piano on the PTG Archives message board and
received an informative and encouraging e-mail from
Del Fandrich. The members of my PTG Chapter were
amazed and amused at the unprecedented nature of
this project and encouraged me to pursue it. One of
our senior chapter members wisely saves old plate
screws and I was able to procure the correct sizes from
his collection. The nosebolt nuts were another matter.
The nut size needed was 5/16" by 20 threads per
Photo 1 inch. My search for that particular thread count was
fruitless; hardware stores have sizes that are 5/16" by 18
the fasteners and tune the piano. She said that another or 24, but not 20. I could not even find that size in the
piano technician “almost fainted” when he saw the catalogs. Fortunately, the owner of the piano works
unsecured plate and, after lecturing her, refused to with an engineer who had the correct size tap and he
undertake the task of replacing the fasteners. I also created the nosebolt nuts for her.
wasn’t sure if I wanted to undertake this project, but Thus I re-approached this piano armed with

of design as there may be in the instruments copied,
but probably introduces others.” (Wolfenden, Samuel,
A Treatise on the Art of Pianoforte Construction, 1916,
Unwin Brothers, Ltd., Surrey, England, pp. 4 & 5.) A
plate would be measured and, if there was any doubt
about its strength, a bit more iron would be thrown
in. Sometimes – a lot more. Not much has changed
over the decades — many pianos are still “designed”
this way. Piano plates, especially those in very small
pianos, are really intended to support the entire stress
Photo 2 (TOP) and Photo 3 (ABOVE) — Mirrors show plate resting securely on of the string load unless they are equipped with “horns”
spacers.
such as those found in the Steinway, etc., plate de-
correct fasteners, a signed release from my client and signs.
encouragement from my colleagues. I lowered the These devices actually do couple some of the string
string tension, installed all 21 fasteners, performed load to the belly bracing mechanism. Otherwise, all of
three pitch raises, tuned it to A=440 and my client the string tension stress is held by the plate. Its fasten-
proceeded to play her beloved Starr at concert pitch. ing to the rim only serves to stabilize it. In some cases
(See Photo 4) Three weeks later my follow-up visit it would even be possible to remove the pinblock
revealed the piano needed a touch-up tuning, but was screws without causing catastrophic failure. (No, I am
still up to pitch. not recommending doing this — just suggesting that
Herewith is the e-mail message I received from Del in some cases it probably would be a reversible proce-
Fandrich after I described this unbelievable project: dure.)
Actually, Carman, this is not quite as unbelievable Anyway, good luck to you and your fastidious cli-
as it seems. Starr mostly built relatively small pianos, so ent. I sure hope that soundboard got clean.
I’m assuming this one is something under 5' 7" (170 Del
cm). Regardless of its size, few pianos of this type were
really ‘designed’ or engineered as is commonly thought.
That is, many of them were essentially copies of some-
thing else that the builders saw and liked. Or saw and
thought they could make some money on. This has
long been a problem in the piano industry.Wolfenden
recognized it in 1916, “Some pianoforte makers are
unwilling to incur the trouble and cost of properly
calculated and drawn scale designs. The more usual
way is to copy instruments of suitable dimensions,
which seem to possess pleasing qualities. Naturally this
method of procedure not only reproduces such errors Photo 4

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An International Non-Profit Organization of Registered Piano Technicians

Taylor Mackinnon, RPT

2 Piano Technicians Journal / November 2000

November 2000 / Piano Technicians Journal 17

18 Piano Technicians Journal / November 2000

Figure 1 — Rolling Mill

Generally ingots are “broken down” into blooms, slabs

November 2000 / Piano Technicians Journal 19

A corollary result of the increase in

20 Piano Technicians Journal / November 2000

November 2000 / Piano Technicians Journal 21

Broken Plate! Who Is Responsible?

22 Piano Technicians Journal / November 2000

November 2000 / Piano Technicians Journal 23

24 Piano Technicians Journal / November 2000

Pure Sound materials to be found in pianos in

November 2000 / Piano Technicians Journal 25

26 Piano Technicians Journal / November 2000

November 2000 / Piano Technicians Journal 27

28 Piano Technicians Journal / November 2000

November 2000 / Piano Technicians Journal 29

30 Piano Technicians Journal / November 2000

November 2000 / Piano Technicians Journal 31

pounds upward at an angle break was complete; the

32 Piano Technicians Journal / November 2000

Preparation for the Weld

34 Piano Technicians Journal / November 2000

The Actual Weld

November 2000 / Piano Technicians Journal 35

How About Brazing?

36 Piano Technicians Journal / November 2000

Those of us that have heard a piano plate crack know the

38 Piano Technicians Journal / November 2000

The Steps for Installing the Pins

November 2000 / Piano Technicians Journal 39

4. Next came the welding using a high nickel rod and

Steps for Welding

40 Piano Technicians Journal / November 2000

42 Piano Technicians Journal / November 2000

November 2000 / Piano Technicians Journal 43

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