[CAUT] M&H "A" stability

[Ron Nossaman]

Jim Busby wrote:
> All,
> 
>  
> 
> We have a 1992 Mason and Hamlin A that has had tuning stability problems 
> for at least the last 8 years (since I’ve been here). It has been 
> assigned to several solid tuners with the same outcome, so it’s not 
> that. It has been restrung twice, and the last time I put in a new 
> Nossaman pinblock and made sure that it was installed properly, mated to 
> the flange, horn wedge is in place, yaddah, yaddah.
> 
>  
> 
> The last restringing was 2 years ago, and I still need to tune it about 
> every 3 weeks. The pitch doesn’t go up and down, but individual notes 
> just seem to go wild. I can’t say that it is the same notes all the 
> time, I don’t think it is. All the normal prepping has been done, 
> checked and rechecked.
> 
>  
> 
> Since it was fairly expensive to buy, and since it was a M&H I thought 
> it should be in a classroom where they do masterclasses. After fighting 
> it for nearly a year I put it in a practice room. Even worse results. 
> Now it sits on its side in storage…
> 
>  
> 
> Any thoughts here? I’ve been told that the tension resonator should not 
> be messed with, but could this be an issue? What am I missing here?

Hi Jim,
It's not the resonator. If that massive rim is counting on the 
resonator to do anything, it would affect the whole piano, not 
individual notes. I've found when individual notes go out 
badly in a short time, at least with a usable pinblock, It's 
just about got to be a rendering problem of some sort. I'd 
start there.
Ron N