Hi, ref Tim Mattice and his Ampico.  Some ten or more years ago, in
a fit of piano restoration, Peter Davies and I renewed the bass strings
on my 1908 Gotha Steck 65/88 note upright.  The old strings were, of
course, original and did sound pretty tubby and dull -- not surprising
after 70 or 80 years of hard work.  (This piano had been played quite
a lot, I think).

Anyway, after an evenings work the results were quite staggering and
far beyond my original expectations.  From a plonky old sound it was
transformed almost into a concert grand growl, and all this time later
it still sounds good.  I still have what must be the original treble
strings, but in fact these have always sounded pretty good, so until
something goes wrong I shall probably keep them.  Perhaps there are
not any hard and fast rules about this?

Of course all this depends on the individual piano, but I would say:
"Go for it, Tim; it's worth every dollar!"  Also do a little bit of
research as to who is supplying the best bass strings at the moment;
this seems to vary from year to year for some reason.

Cheers

Tony Dellaway
34630 St. Thibery, France