Have you ever broken a tine? When/how?

[Spaceduck]

I'm just wondering how hard it is to break a tine. Do they typically break due to hammering them hard (force of hit), or is it due to hitting them a lot (number of hits)? Or do they just break with age?

Does it depend on the tine length (example: shorter tines break sooner than longer tines)? Or maybe if your hammer tips have hardened?

And is there anything you can do to increase the lifespan of your tines, like rubbing them down with baby oil or something? (just kidding, but if it works...)

Sorry about all the questions. Me = noob.  

*EDIT*
One last question... does the "bump mod" increase the chances of breaking tines?

[james]

It depends on what you mean by "break"...it's more likely that the tine will go "dead" and just lose all of its sustain due to an internal fracture.  You hit the key and hear a "thunk".  Dead.  This is a lot more common than the tine actually snapping loose inside the piano.  But older pianos have less durable tine construction and are obviously more likely to have more wear on them, so you've got a better chance of snapping one there.  Adding the key pedestal bump would actually help AFAIK since it would lighten the action.  Some very active players out there can give firsthand accounts, I'm sure.  I think the moral of the story, though, is that you're only going to be snapping tines if you're pounding the s**t out of the keyboard all the time....

[Spaceduck]

Interesting stuff. I've never seen (or heard) a broken/dead tine, so this is good to know. The reason why I was wondering about the bump mod is that I understand it raises the hammer closer to the tine. So I imagine if a real "slammer" plays it, the force of the hammer is potentially much more damaging because it has less distance to travel before hitting the target.

I generally don't play very hard. But you know how it is... when the soundman gives you a lousy monitor mix, you end up unconsciously playing harder just to hear yourself. You can easily go overboard without knowing it.

Another thing I've noticed is that the longer tines really vibrate with a wide displacement. I'm sure this puts a ton of stress on the "stem" of the tine. I'm guessing it would break there much sooner than at the hammer point.

[Rob A]

I had a problem with breaking tines after dropping my escapement below factory standard trying to increase my dynamic range.

They would get fractured like james mentions, go a semitone flat or so, and then one more good hit would break them. I have a youtube video up where one dies in the middle of the tune. It's not hugely evident because I noticed and played around it.

I tended to break them in the middle two octaves. I do play hard. I'm working on that. However once I raised my escapement back up nearer factory spec, I haven't broken a tine since. YMMV.

[Ben Bove]

Yes last time I broke a tine on an early model, the note went with no sustain like I was gripping the tonebar, so I wondered what the hell was wrong.  I changed the grommets and reinstalled.  Next hammerstrike I heard a pop.

[gunnar]

I broke a tine not so long ago too on a rental rhodes (never happened on my own rhodes) and first it went off key and lost sustain and when I managed to tune it quickly it broke 2 minutes later, explaining why it went out of tune in the first place...It was the middle a, so it just gets hit a lot...

[Dan Belcher]

I broke a tine not so long ago too on a rental rhodes (never happened on my own rhodes) and first it went off key and lost sustain and when I managed to tune it quickly it broke 2 minutes later, explaining why it went out of tune in the first place...It was the middle a, so it just gets hit a lot...

I actually broke the same exact tine on my Rhodes last year.  I wasn't even playing hard at the time, but it just snapped without warning.  It didn't go flat or give me any warning signs until it completely snapped in two.  I have had a tine that no matter what just plain refused to give good sustain and sounded dull (the A just one octave up, actually), but I replaced it last year.  Also, my E on that same octave one above middle C is lacking in the tone and sustain department as well, I really need to replace it sometime.

[Kolbenschlag]

I've broken 3 in a little over a year. Mostly in the middle two octaves.  In all cases, like you said, I had a terrible monitor mix and didn't realize how hard I was playing.  

I don't know why, but I feel like it has somthing to do with the sustain pedal.  When a tine is already vibrating up and down, and the hammer strikes it, perhaps at just the moment when the tine is on the way down...

LIke I said, I'm not a tech, and certainly not a physicist, but I've always felt like going heavy on the sustain pedal/ multiple strikes had something to do with it.

[Spookyman]

Until now, i had about 4 tines that brake down in the last 8 years of use. Like described above. The sustain is no more so loooooong, then the tuning of the note is going deeper and deeper, and suddenly i can hear a "plop". The End of the tine...

In the end of this month, i bring my Stage Piano for a TOTAL revision of the inside. It will change radically...it will be a mix between new(er) and old(er) parts. As my uncle has a Rhodes (from 1978) for spare parts. The mechanic should be more playable...