On the question of piano strings ... did you chaps know that the Grand Johanna on the Hindenburg airship had aluminium strings ... to make it lighter!! (disaster May 6, 1937)

Now you know it all.

Off the subject, but......I can't help it....
This is a great example of where I think the rule about using the subjunctive in such a situation is a poor idea -- and I don't do it. Good thing I'm not still in school, because I might flunk.

I think that actually most people who know about the subjunctive and generally use it properly violate the rule in such a context, but (as far as I know) it is nevertheless considered wrong.

What do I mean by "such a context"?
A context where the stated situation is very possibly actual. I reserve the subjunctive for where it's just being imagined, or at most highly unlikely. I think the subjunctive sounds strange when the stated situation is true or very possibly true, but as far as I know, the rule doesn't care.

The rule needs to be changed.
Pass it on.

Yes, it is possible that he was making an assumption about my piano (he didn't have it in front of him), but I will ask him when I have the chance. At any rate the tuner is coming in January, so we will have a look at that flange.

No, I don't. What was the rest of it made of?

Hi Frycek,
Did a bit of reading up on the Hindenburg airship ...
and the use of aluminium strings to the piano.

No ... they didn't use balsawood for the rest of the piano!! ... to make it lighter.

Apparently the piano with aluminium strings did not
accompany the journey when the airship caught fire.
So presumably the old piano was left in the Frankfurt storeroom.

regards, btb

Dr. Rudolf Blüthner-Haessler was head of the Julius Blüthner Piano Company, which created the lightweight duralumin piano carried on Hindenburg during the 1936 season.

Thanks!

I doubt that the piano had aluminum strings. That would be a tremendous design problem, as well as an acoustical one The bass strings may have been wrapped with aluminum, but the reason for wrapping strings is to add weight to them, anyway.