Broken strings...

[perfect_pitch]

I'm intrigued as to how rare it is to actually break a string on a grand piano. The lovely Yamaha C2 Grand Piano I bought 8 months ago has had it's first broken string. I was told that it was incredibly rare to break any of the bas strings, and just found out from a certified Yamaha tuner that it was the first case he's ever had of someone breaking a bass string on a piano?

Should I be concerned that the piano I have has already snapped a string, given it's age - KEEPING IN MIND, the fact that I practice on it 6 - 7 hours a day, playing repertoire like Liszts Totentanz for Solo piano, Schumanns Carnivale, Moussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, not to mention my Fellowship program?

Or am I just pushing the piano towards its limit?

[keys60]

The core of a bass sting is quite a heavy gauge. I've snapped a bass string once on my own piano when I was tuning for the first time and was on the wrong pin. Snapping a bass string while playing......well....I'd say you need to lighten up a bit. It could have had a defect. There are variables.

[silverwoodpianos]

Strings snap for a variety of reasons;  a core with a weak spot in the metals; touching a friction point it should not; hard hammer set that requires voicing, are some of the causes.

On an instrument that I re-string you can usually count on about 3% error rate so out of 256 strings (of which I do not make the 46 bass) maybe 6 will fault for some reason; either I twisted the wire, nicked it with the cutters, just a section of bad wire in the rolls, who knows??  Just replace and move on….

Unfortunately for you this is a bass string which requires measuring, ordering, shipping, installation, and adjustment. Bass strings can be pricey because most of the time you have to purchase two…unless the original can be spliced…

[rachfan]

I've been playing piano for decades, and I've only broken one string during that time.  It was the lowest E string while playing Schumann's Novellette No. 1 on my Baldwin Model L.  For all of the possible reasons listed in this thread, if there is flaw in the string, a rust spot, the age factor, or whatever, when it's ready to go, it breaks!