I was re- stringing a piano a day in the German piano workshop some 26 years ago , starting at 5am and finishing around 12 hrs later.......

Also, as a piano tuner, I use the string spacing guide and 'chip-up' to pitch before putting the action back. Saves a lot of time too. Thank you for your videos, really helpful!! (UK)

I watched a piano tuning tutorial a while back out of curiosity, even though I don't play or have one. Fast forward 2 weeks and, thanks to youtube, I know way to much about pianos.

Great video! Seems like time-constraints kept the poster from showing one last, but VERY important, step: on the other end of his coil-lifter tool is a string-spacing guide-- the strings MUST be correctly spaced when they are replaced or the hammers could possibly end up striking the new strings in different areas of the hammer face, which may cause the notes to have a dark or dull sound quality to them. The felt on the hammers has been "voiced" with special tools to have a consistent hardness over the scale of the piano where the felt meets the strings as we play. On grand pianos this is ESPECIALLY important since the una corda (soft) pedal functionality moves the whole action over to strike a different part of the hammer which has been voiced so the felt is less hard, producing a softer tone. If the strings are not correctly spaced, the voicing will be off and you'll be very confused as to why the new string doesn't sound like the old one! All one needs to do is place the newly replaced (but not fully tightened) strings in the slots at the end of the string-spacing tool and run the tool up and down the top 2 or 3 inches of the strings a few times, ending as closely as you can to the pressure bar, then while holding the tool in place, tighten the strings JUST ENOUGH to hold their new position. Save pulling the strings up to full tension for the tuning process so you don't accidentally tighten them too much and snap the new string you've just installed! (One last and final piece of info: after you've installed and tuned your new strings, don't expect them to hold their tune perfectly-- they will stretch out a bit under their new-found tension, and the pitch will need to be raised again, and again, and again before they become stable... I would also advise a LIGHT tapping down of the string under the hitch pin to help seat the wire so it has fewer places to stretch out). Again, I'm sure Steve knows to do this, but it wasn't mentioned in the video so I'm filling the gap (hopefully)!

Your video is put together in a really clear and concise manner...Thanks so much for the education

Thank you from Czech Republic.

Great videos! Keep them coming.

another great video . thanks for sharing these details and your expertise! Re. taking the action out.... that is something I have to lean also...

Thanks!!! I just replaced two sets in the treble section on my upright. -GB, Arkansas.

Great job! I’m trying to replace the upright piano strings too. Thank you for this video! You’re great teacher! 👍

Really very useful these your video tutorial that manage to be very practical because it guides us step-by-step intervention, you're a great teacher and technician pf, I learned so much from your tips for mè remains a beacon of hope in reference .. your other videos. I thank you heartily a warm greeting from your student surfer Italian Saverio

Thanks a lot, very good info, understood

Great video. Thanks a lot.

Hello, thanks for the instructive video! What is the purpose of having tight coils on the strings?

Many thanks very helpful easy to follow

You made my day.

Your method works well. I'll give it a try I've been using the Sciortino" insta coiler." Takes some getting used to though. I've also seen the "dummy tuning pin method."

Thank you for the time taken to make the presentation. I have an old piano which was built in Kalgoorlie Western Australia. Part of the original brief for the piano brand was that when delivered to a remote town or station ( ranch ) homestead overland on a camel wagon, the instrument had to be in tune and playable on arrival. This piano I rescued after it had been pushed by vandals off the stage in a remote town dance hall. That fall apparently raised little lines of dust alongside the cracks between the floorboards of the hall. They were still there when I collected it. The keybed had broken through and there was a scatter of pieces, some broken and missing hammers. I patched it up as best I could with a poor skillset at the time. When the time came to tune it, the tune was in balance but about half a note low. Aside from fine tuning all the notes, I did not try to raise the pitch. At about 3am one morning, I was half awake and thought somebody had shot the house, then I heard a drumming sound. A string had snapped during the night, I guess as a cool drift came through after a hot day. Some 30 years later, I recently rescued another of the same type in better although well used condition but with a little internal damage. I found that to be correctly pitched and in tune. With that instrument as a reference, I have begun to finesse the first rescue a little more. I originally replaced the broken hammer sticks with rolled roast sticks from the local butcher shop and missing hammers with what I could scrounge up from a totally wrecked instrument. Over time, those roast sticks have bent and twisted. Before going to the bother of sourcing some new hammer heads, I thought I would raise the pitch and see if would hold. It came up fine. I took the precaution of putting some liquid molylube where the strings pass over the fret to avoid the strings binding on some signs of fine rust. Over time there have been a few beer spills by the look of it. However two strings have snapped. They did not snap on the fret. One snapped at the coil. The other has snapped at the bend at the bottom. Interestingly it has split, not broken across. I have three to replace including the one which went off in the night long ago. I have yet to measure and source the replacement strings. Your advice is very helpful. For your curiosity, a link to a clip of the instrument follows. After a major goldfield was discovered, in Western Australia there grew the town of Kalgoorlie-Boulder and it for a while was larger than the capital city of Perth. A piano factory was apparently built there. The actions and some pedal lever pivots seem to have been sourced from the US. I doubt that the cast steel frame was made here because all we had was then charcoal grey cast iron not cast steel. The frame bears the brand "Shotter Rowe and Co Perth". There is very little information to be found. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/bLWJl5xy27q1eaM.html

Hi I’m very grateful for your video,you were so to the point,and explained,and video it so I could see,I’ve saved it to my phone,and I subscribe thanks again keep on making the videos

Very helpful, thanx

Awsome video!

Thank you! When do you pre-coil?

I have to replace one of the longer treble strings on a Spinet piano and the broken string passes underneath the bass string section. I will not be removing the spinet action but merely removing the action bolts (screws in this case) and just pulling back the action about 1 & 1/2 to 2 inches away from the strings which will give me enough room to work with. It is a 3-string note and there is only a single wire left so it would sound too weak if left without replacing the other two thirds of the string for that note. Do you have any suggestions or tips to make this go easier? I may remove a few of the bass strings from their hitch pins after loosening the pins one full turn and still leaving the coil intact and attached to their respective tuning pins. This will give me some room to get my hands as close to the hitch pin of the string I am replacing and get those bass strings out of the way of my working area at the bottom loop of the string. Other than the removing of some of the bass strings which are strung directly on top of the string I'm replacing do you have any suggestions or tips which may make this a bit easier?

Thank you. Excellent instructions.

Hello. This was a really good video Howard! Do you have any videos on grand pianos? Thanks for sharing your knowledge on such a nice way!!!

Can you let me know whether the piano tuner recommended to me has replaced all of the pins and refaced all of the hammers which he said he would do?

Thank you.

If I remove all the cords to give the soundboard and Frame a good cleaning. How much you thing I would get charged for tuning the piano back once i put the cords back??? Thanks!!

Thank you kindly🤍

Howard, I just replaced a midrange string. This was not easy. It took two tries. What I quickly learned was to pre-measure the wire, crimp it in half then do the 3" above the pin measuring and cut. It was still tedious! Are there any downsides to this crimping? Aligning the string on the bridge pins is also tricky cause you need to have the string a little taught so that it stays. Dexterity with the string hook and a screwdriver will need to improve going forward. Any comments, suggestions appreciated.

Hi Howard, when you're coiling a bass string wire can it simply be inserted in the hole in the tuning pin, held with your hand, and then coiled by cranking the pin with a tuning hammer... or is it necessary to pre-coil the wire before putting it onto and through the pin? Thanks!

Thanks!

i am a beginner, thanks so much for your instructions.

The moment he put the gloves on, I knew he meant business. hahaha - Thanks, Howard!

Hi Steve. May I ask where you got the tuning pin socket from? I've been searching for ages but still can't find any 4-point or 8-point sockets that fit to standard 1/4" | 3/8" ratchets. Thanks!

The coil lifting tool from Pianotek is fantastic even if rather pricey and esp. good for stringing jobs.

Hi! This might be a silly question from a non piano tuner (I'm attempting to repair a piano at the mo) but I notice use one string and returning up to create the second string. However there are three strings to each note so what happens to the third string? Does that not have a hinch?

Good video

Do you happen to have a video that shows how to replace a steel string in the center section of the piano where you have to deal with the overstrung bass strings being in the way (on an upright piano)? I am facing this challenge and am finding no information about how to do this. I am only finding tips on how to guide the wire down with a paper clip or a safety pin.

Great video!! Thanks for the book on piano by Marko Igrec. What I wanted to know is why is one string attached to two pins? As a guitar player I changed thousand of strings and I find it strange than on piano not every tone has its individual string but two tones share one string. Does it affect the next tone when I tune one just becauss the next tone share same string? I can't imagine not doing so. Why is that made so in first place? Thank you and thanks for great videos and education in piano tech

very informative helpful video. Thank you,

Hi there, where can I find the ratchet that you are using? Because I have a set of general ratchets, but the attachment does not fit on the tuning pin. It doesn’t allow me to turn the attachment around to fit the pin. Do they sell ratchets with a special set of quadrilateral opening at say Home Depot or Lowe’s?

My piano tuner begins to make the first coil by winding the first end of the wire on a spare tuning pin inserted into his tuning hammer. He also uses the width of four of his fingers to measure the 3 inches. I tried with my hand, there is exactly 3 inches with the fingers 2, 3, 4 and 5 put one against the others. No need for a stainless steel ruler...

Hello, my Eb3 string broke, but I don't know with what kind of string replace it, can you help me?

Mr. Howard, thank you for a concise video that's easy to understand. I was wondering if there is a tool we can use to stretch the string before tuning to add stability. I'm thinking this could make new strings more stable and even make it unnecessary to make a second trip to the customer (saving time and money). Thanks for what you're doing.

What is the situable size of string for middle c?

Thankyou for a valuable video .My question may relate to the way one string is used to form two vibrating strings . On several very tight tuning pins I tried to cure the jumping and loud crack noise by turning the tension down and up till the sticking was improved. But !! I did that with a pair of sticking pins on the same note . Not being aware that those two were connected and probably retuning the wrong half first is there a chance those strings will have been displaced and ended up with a kink where the string should be straight .? This looks quite likely as the loop at the string bottom is a simple turn that might have shifted . A good long question for you . The sounds of those tight pin notes has not been good although the basic note is there it behaves like a slow morse code . Thanks again .

Спасибо! Всё понятно и доступно.

Hi, thank you for demo. My question is that there are 3 pins per one note so one wire connects to 2 pins . So how do we connect the second wire ? The last end goes to the next note??

What did you use to coil the string around the tuning pin? Is that ratchet star head special? When I tried using the ones I have they don’t work and I believe the tuning pins were the same ones as in the video.

I was able to successfully tune my piano following your videos except 1 key where one of the wires came out of the hole in the pin thus not been able to tune it. Can I just reuse the wire by losen it, straighten it, re-insert it on the pin and tighten again?

Where can I get a star bit like the one you used in this video?

good video, btw can you demonstration how to fic loose tuning pin? thanks

Does one make an effort to bring the tension up evenly on each tuning pin until the tension is so great that there is no chance of slippage across the anchor? Or is slippage more or less prevented anyway by the resistance of the zigzag through the bridge pins?

Thanks for the video--very helpful. Do you or does anyone else have an opinion about how quickly to move tuning pins, particularly when backing them out the 3 turns? I would have been afraid to move them as quickly as in this video since the friction causes the pin to get very hot, expand, and then permanently enlarge the hole resulting in a looser tuning pin.

I noticed that you were able to get the string past the pressure bar without using a stringing hook (at 11:58). I was not able to get a string past the pressure bar despite using forceps, crochet hooks, and a needle-nose pliers. Would a stringing hook help? If not, do I need to remove the pressure bar or is that opening a whole new can of worms? Thanks for the great video.

Can you do a video replacing a single treble string, where you have to put a coiled end loop at the end of the hitch pin? Thanks

so Im assuming when you start the coil around the tuning pin it must coil toward the sound board of the piano correct so the the wire through the hole can be easily trimmed close as possibe

hi. i been playing guitar for 35 years. have done a zillion string changes. well, my neighbor gave me an upright Hobart M. Cable piano built in 1914. It sounds killer!!! Very loud and clear and great action on the keys. I've never had much interest in piano until i got this thing. I noticed it's missing a couple of the high strings. I really wanna put the replacement strings on there and i have a wonderful ear for pitch and tuning. What i dont know is what string gauge to use for missing strings. How should i approach this? Very curious. Any info on the string gauge might help. Thanx in advance

Are the piano strings on the right side of the piano have the same size like the rest or is it different?

What is a string breaks in the middle section and the bass strings are in front of the hitch pin?

I have an old Jannsen console and there is a felt strip above the pressure bar. I tried replacing a string but only got as far as loading the wire through the first pin. As I moved the string up I ruined that space on the felt. Any tips?

Howard, around 9:45 you are coiling the wire around the pin using only your finger to keep the wire from slipping. I am unable to coil the wire without the wire slipping out of the hole. Can you help me?

curious , what is the reason for gloves?

Following a recent purchase from your company I've gone on to replace two of the three strings (notes) needed. Unfortunately on the model of upright piano I'm working on E4's bridge pins are nestled in behind the overlapping bass strings. I've spent hours trying to work the strings into place. It's total madness... quite possibly the most tedious thing I've ever undertaken. I consulted a piano repair book that said on some pianos a curtain rod may be needed to guide the strings into position. I've tried with wooden skewers, but I'm convinced it's either a two man job (one to hold the string in place from below the keyboard and one to pull it around the other pin from the top) or one would have to remove several bass strings. Can you tell me if my read of the situation sounds correct? Tell me I'm wrong and I didn't happen to break the single most inconvenient string on an upright piano.

Any tips for when the tuning pins are so close together that there is no room for the string spacer or even a finger to hold the string in place? Also, I can't seem to find a video showing how to replace a string from the tenor section of the piano, where the bridge and hitch pins are behind both the keys AND the front row of bass strings, and thus nearly impossible to access. If anyone has any tips I'm all ears!

How do you attach the third string at the bottom end which cant loop back on the same note? Do you keep going left or is it attached to a seperate pin somewhere?

Hi there. I have just snapped a piano string today. When I measured the string it showed on the vernier that it is .90 mm. The sizes that are obtainable are .80 mm and 1.1 mm. Which one would you recommend I use to get the same tone etc. It is the F-string in the right side of the piano, I think it is called the treble size. Ha-ha.

Hi Howard. Thank you tremendously for your videos. I have several questions, if I may: 1) Are the particular micrometers used here specially designed for measuring piano string diameters, or are they just standard micrometers (I'm not sure how much they vary across various professions)? 2) If the string is fixed at the bottom via the hitch pin but then comes back up in order to become the next string in the sequence - does changing the tension of one note not affect the tuning of the 'other' one? Thanks again!

I have the string all entailed up with the hammers , How do I get it out

What about the strings that run behind the bass strings? How would one of those get replaced?

So you recommend removing the action when replacing strings ?

Excellent video. I have a 50 year old Kawai console. One of the two strings for key D2 broke. The string is about 48 inches long. I would like to try to replace it, but couldn't find references on the website for specific strings to be sure I'm buying the right one. I would appreciate any guidance. Thanks

What's a good place to buy piano strings?

16:57 RIP lol

dummy tuning pin method is much more faster and gives less damage to pin block

What's the tool at 14.49?

I have another method that disturbs the tuning pin minimally and is also faster. I wind the string on a tuning pin outside the piano, then pry the coil out of that dummy pin and click the coiled string on the pin IN the piano.

14:30 had my wife and I rotfl!

Thanks. I thought all the treble keys had 3 strings?

How much does a treble string cost.. ?

So one string is used via the hitch pin to replace 2 strings of the three for each note. That means the other string when it breaks only needs one string. Where does it attach? Why would it be rare for 2 strings to break when one string wraps around the hitch pin to make it sound like 2. Very confusing.

What would a beginner need for replacing and tuning piano strings?

Very important to let out any farts when restringing a piano. 14:28

usually those types of those pianos crack

A sneaky fart at 14:30 :)

SO NO BECKET??

if Jordan Peterson were a piano technician :)

I'm sorry, but this video says to turn the pin out 3 full turns, which is bad practice. Consider that the pin is just held in by the wood being tight (friction). Backing it out 3 full turns and turning it back in 3 full turns *will* wear the hole out and loosen the pin. It could even wear the hole out to the point of making the tuning not even hold, if the hole is already on the looser side. The correct way - always - is to back the pin out only 1/2 to 1 turn, then - and this is the key - wind the new string onto a spare tuning pin first (one that's not in the piano) to create a coil, then put the already-coiled string onto the pin in the piano. This way, you don't wear the pin-block down any more than you need to. The way he does it in the video might work, but it unnecessarily ages the piano. I even have a special little cylindrical tool that I can put my spare tuning pin into, to help me make the coil.

How could you not know that it is actually ONE STRING?

14:29 fwert

Fart at 14:30

fart at 14:29

interesting video, but the incessant tongue clicking drives me crazy. I get caught up anticipating his next "tsk".

I hate his snaps or click his lips or mouth too often and it's annoying that is why I can't stand watching this video and also he clears his throat too much. OMG

Good video