Restringing - much improvement?

[Byrolinda]

I have an old grand. Does restringing (if correct wire is used) substantially improve the sound assuming there are no other structural problems? Has anyone got experience of 'Puresound' strings?

[Barrie Heaton]

I have an old grand. Does restringing (if correct wire is used) substantially improve the sound assuming there are no other structural problems? Has anyone got experience of 'Puresound' strings?

Yes very much so in the bass, depends on the state of the steels that are on at the moment how big an improvement is made in the treble, but there will be an improvement all round.

stainless steel strings used by the likes of Puresound tend to be for older pianos that have a high carbon contents in the original strings, there are other benefits of using stainless steel strings, seaside towns were the salt air can make the strings pit more is one

Barrie,

[Byrolinda]

Mmmmm ... food for thought. I have read that Puresound is the way to go for my 1881 instrument. I have been 'chipping' it up to concert pitch and have noticed what appear to be false beats in some strings (I'm no expert) .. I presume this means it would benefit from new strings. The old ones are quite corroded. Since cleaning the thick layer of dust off the soundboard it has developed some nasty buzzing on 5/6 notes in the 2nd octave above middle C. Not sure whether this is due to some object under the plate which I can't see, or something more serious. It wasn't there before! Have wedged the una corda pedal in a position which shifts the keyboard just far enough to allow the hammers to strike all three strings, but away from the grooved, compacted felt. It is just an experiment to give me an idea of the original tone ... do you think this is likely to give be giving me a fair approximation of the manufacturer's intention?