[CAUT] Mystery Click

Paul T Williams pwilliams4 at unlnotes.unl.edu
Fri May 18 06:35:17 MDT 2007


Once I found a "click"  or more of a groan in a wippen flange which went 
away with re-pinning. Try that or jack flange.............
pw




Geoffrey Arnold <welltemperedtuning at yahoo.com> 
Sent by: caut-bounces at ptg.org
05/18/2007 12:37 AM
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[CAUT] Mystery Click







Hello All,

Just wanted to share my experience and seek some insight on a mystery 
click which got the best of me. I regret to inform, I am unsure of the 
model of this baby grand in question, as the fallboard had been removed 
and stored elsewhere and I only glanced at the soundboard. Thompson & 
Someone? The construction reminded me of a newer Kanabe. It had been tuned 
by another technician a week previous and was pretty out after a week of 
performance in the theater's mainstage here at Whitman College.

The technical manager said it has had many problems for a "new" piano. It 
looked pretty darn new, though I am unsure of just when and how they 
acquired it. It had some squeeking balance rail pins easily proteked out, 
but F#5 had this click! I saved it for last and ended up having a good 30 
minutes to work on it to no avail. It sounded to me like a loose hammer 
sound. An isolated, hollow, woody sound. Click was present with dampers 
lifted, so I ruled out damper involvement. Holding the key at capstan and 
lifting wippen with finger through letoff produced the click, so I ruled 
out key involvement, or backrail cloth stuff, plus it didn't sound to be 
coming from the key. I pulled the hammer to give it the swing test, and 
the hammer flange was pretty darn loose, so I repinned it just right, but 
did not eliminate the click.

With the action removed resting on my knees and keybed, I held a fist over 
F#5 and struck firm test blows. I heard the click as the hammer struck 
fist at a certain height but if I brought the fist low enough I didnt here 
the click, it seemed the click occured right at let off, so I thought jack 
related, or maybe popping rep lever. Maybe rep spring too tight slapping 
jack against rep lever window, or the rep lever height adjust button 
slapping against the wippen, but when isolated none of them made a sound 
different than their neighbors.

I wouldn't belabor the point, but I feel I've encountered this very click 
before, on an older Steinway at the college and would love to get to the 
bottom of it, for my ego and my edification. Any additional usual suspects 
to add to my checklist?

Thanks!

Greg Arnold




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