Mason&Hamlin CC

[Jim Harvey]

Scott,

I think that your tone and power left when the wedge entered. I agree
with other writers -- remove the wedge and deal with the real
problem. The following may help or not in terms of the 'real'
problem.

Last year I was faced with this situation on a M&H A4 [I love the
'A', but  don't like the '4'  scale version]. The piano was new, and
a couple of the tension resonator bars had fallen out!

M&H was out of business that week, and the costs of what was to have
been a warranty repair were borne by the client. I made calls to
colleagues -- none had ever heard of this happening. I resorted to
the seat of the pants method for re-installing and adjusting. I did
it following the methods used for tuning drum heads, or, for
tightening spokes in a wheel.

Unfortunately, this only partially worked. Because of the different
lengths of rods involved, the results were similar to the effect of
wind chimes -- different pitches.

Therefore, I was not overly concerned about what pitch -- rather
that tension existed. I tried to make the loose and formerly missing
rods as close to the other samples as possible, but resorted to
another method -- tightening just to the point that the case started
to 'grunt', then leaving well enough alone.

After being satisfied that the tension resonator was okay, and after
several passes to get the pitch stabilized, certain chords or notes
on the piano would cause a nasty buzz. It turned out to be the lock
nuts for the tension resonator bars. In spite of "looking" okay from
a design standpoint, it seemed that the threads for the lock nuts
were slightly different than the threading on the rods -- in a
dormant mode (not tightened) they had too much 'lost motion' on the
rods. Right or wrong, this was the source of  the buzz. A drop of
Lock-Tite prior to tightening the lock nuts took care of this.

In spite of my apprehension about doing this job, I didn't sweat
nearly as much as the time I replaced the plate to pinblock wedge on
a new 'BB'

Good luck in the hunt.

Jim Harvey, RPT
Greenwood, SC

> >I have a Mason & Hamlin concert grand that has severe loss of tone and power,
> >almost as if there is no crown on the soundboard. I do know at one time the
> >tension resonator was lose enough to cause some buzzing. It is my
> >understanding that it was tightened just enough to stop the buzzing. Also,
> >someone has crammed wedges between the beams and the ribs to try to force
> >some height on the board. (with no success). My question is, has anyone ever
> >tried to adjust the tension resonator? I know it is not meant to be adjusted
> >after it left the factory. It was purchased in 1979, along with 2 7ft Mason
> >and Hamlins. This piano is not the concert instument any longer, they have
> >since replaced it with a 9'2" Fazioli. (lucky me!) It is a classroom piano
> >now. The 2 7 footers have no problems at all. Any feedback is appreciated!
> >Scott Rogers RPT
Jim Harvey
Greenwood: The largest city in S.C. *without* an Interstate