I am about to order a full set of strings.
The bass strings will be custom-wound by Just Vrins of Quality Strings in The Netherlands. The core diameter and speaking length of each of the old bass strings has to be measured. As insurance against speaking length measuring errors, a paper pattern must be made of the termination points and bearings of each bass string.
Here is a video showing how the paper pattern is made.
As for the plain wire unisons, I will be using the hybrid strings from French piano wire manufacturer Stephen Paulello. More information in this PDF technical note. Quality Strings will match my choice of music wire by using Paulello for the core of the wound strings. Mr Vrins will match my plain wire choice by using Paulello for the wound string core. He will also rescale the plain wire unisons for a small fee, so that the ADSR envelope changes progressively from note to note. The goal is tonal homogeneity across the keyboard. Read more about his proprietary approach here.
I used this combination of wound and plain wire for the first time early last year in a 50 year-old Steinway D concert grand. It was also my first use of Abel Natural Felt hammers, and the first time I used PTD for touchweight balancing. The results were outstanding. Sonically, it was unmistakably a model D, yet each note sounded cleaner and more focused. Whole-piano tonal homogeneity was very evident, even across the tenor break.
I ascribe some of the harmonic changes to the use of hammers one weight grade below concert hammers. The intent behind this was to bring fff down a notch, to a level that would not completely overwhelm the living room in which the piano has been located for half a century.
Thankfully, the pin block is still in great condition. The torque of every tuning pin is well within the margin of safety. It’s a big plus because my workshop does not have the space nor overhead hoists needed for work that requires the plate to be lifted out of the piano.
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