•I really wonder why those folks who automate guitars and banjos resorted to such complicated devices to strum the strings. Has anybody thought of using some harpsichord jacks for that purpose? I have toyed with the idea, and it would require the back of the instrument to be inlet, but that shouldn'...

•Just a quick email to let everyone know that I am in complete agreement with everything (excepting one point) D.L. Bullock wrote in 020329 MMDigest concerning the stringing of pianos. Having worked for a Kawai dealer (and owning the very best Kawai GS-40 grand you ever encountered) I truly believe ...

•The last piano tech who tuned my piano was a little careless and left some very noticeable greasy spots on the brand-new strings. I took special care during the restringing to not touch the wires with bare hands for fear of the "acid touch," as Art Reblitz puts it. What is the safest way to clean h...

•Clean with naphtha and a soft cotton cloth, while wearing a carbon filter mask, with a fan blowing the fumes away from you. That won't get everything off, but I believe will be the best way to get most of it without damaging anything in the piano. 3M now makes a P-95 mask, which is a surgical-type ...

•The Piano Technicians Guild Journal this month has a note in the Tips, Tools & Techniques section from Kevin Fortenberry, RPT, of the Heart of Texas Chapter about pulling new strings through a clean rag treated with FLITZ polish, followed by pulling them through a dry rag to dry them before install...

•I like the idea of the Flitz for the plain wire strings, but any sort of cleaner or polish on the wound bass strings is, in the opinion of all I've ever heard comment on it, a very bad idea: it will "kill" their tone. Gordon Stelter

•I am wondering if there is a way that I can clean and rejuvenate the strings on my player piano without doing anything particularly destructive to them. Any non-destructive options and/or advice would be greatly appreciated. Luke Myers ldmyers95@gmail.com.geentroep [delete ".geentroep" to reply] ...

•The windings on the old bass strings loosen over time making a 'thud' sound, or as we in the trade call them, 'dead'. Any attempt to rejuvenate old bass strings is temporary at best. Replace them; it's about the same amount of work. New strings from Mapes are about six dollars each and are far bett...

•I have to agree with John Oakes' posting except for using steel (wire) wool on the bass strings. The steel wool gets trapped in the copper windings and that's not good. The oxidation on the copper windings has little, if any, effect on the tone, it's the dirt caught between the windings and the cor...

•After that fascinating clip on the hurdy gurdy, this seemed appropriate: the "tromba marina", a bowed string instrument that sounds remarkably like a natural (valveless) trumpet: http://www.trombamarina.com/tm.htm Be certain to click on the blue links to sound files. The page (and the site it's att...

•Eric, That was a very interesting web site. Recently Google has placed the entire U.S. patent database under keyword search. I have had fun searching for old mechanical music patents. I noticed someone patented an organ pipe with sympathetic strings attached to the resonator. It is sort of the oppo...

•Anybody out there have a measurement for the length of the fishing pole tracker string on an H.C. Bay mechanism? I find that Gulbransen was roughly 9.5", but that seems a little generous for this mechanism. The 'fishing pole' on this unit is mounted to the back of the spoolbox, and the take-up spin...

•My H.C. Bay player action is in a 1928 Milner piano. I recently had it completely restored, but a little more needs to be done. I've enjoyed it since 1971. The tracker string travels 5.25 inches. The pole "could" travel 5.5 inches. I did not untie it to measure. Augie Gonzales San Jose, Calif. ...

•There was a recent string about these on MMD. Check the index. Try QRS in Buffalo, NY. You have to ask specifically. They are not in the regular catalog. There was a guy in San Francisco who sold a lot of used ones. I'm not sure if he's still alive or his address. Last info I had was Leonard's Play...

•Pin setting and string equalization is two different things. For years I was doing it wrong. I could not understand why, during a pitch raise, I was ending up with each octave flatter and flatter as I went up the scale. I was tuning the piano to itself after setting the temperament with an electron...

•The nyckelharpa is a stringed instrument, native to Sweden, played like a violin. Similar instruments were also found in Germany. Did this Swedish instrument influence Henry Sandell's invention of the Mills Violano? Did it also influence the design of the Hupfeld Phonoliszt Violina? https://www.you...

•In reference to the recent string about J. Lawrence Cook's phono records: Has anyone ever run into records by some of Cook's co-workers? On a CD called "Keyboard Artists of the Gershwin Era, Vol III: Arden and Ohman", is Euday Bowman's "12th Street Rag", played by Max Kortlander and Victor Arden. T...

•I've been enjoying the string on remote organ blower installations. With pressure or vacuum, it's generally agreed that a smooth interior surface in the pipe allows for faster air movement. Has anyone tried waxing or coating the interior of the pipe to make it slippery? Would this further increase ...

•I believe that the correct hammer to string strike distance may vary slightly between uprights, but 47 mm is probably adequate for most old instruments. If at rest, the hammers sit proud of the rest rail, then the key capstans need adjusting. I lower them until there is just the tiniest amount of l...

•Hammer Fails to Strike the String My Universal Piano Company player piano has been getting weaker when playing. It seems that every system is working well, but over the years it started not striking a note now and then. I am new at working on player pianos and I have had to make up my own tools to ...