A real puzzler: Dead strings in "BB" M and H

Piannaman@aol.com Piannaman@aol.com
Wed, 4 May 2005 00:24:08 EDT


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List,
 
I'm scratching my head at this one.  I tuned a BB today that is around  3 
years out of the factory.  As I tuned the temperament, I found that the  middle 
string on several notes from middle C down towards the tenor have  virtually no 
sustain.  I thought it was damper "drag"(for lack of a better  term).  Pulled 
the dampers out of the way, no change.  Second thought  was over-needled 
hammers.  I plucked the strings. The sound still died  after a couple of seconds.
 
I thought it might be bad strings, but in most, if not all of the notes, it  
was only the center string that was not sustaining.  These are not  
individually looped strings, and the other half of the strings sounded just  fine.  
 
I didn't alarm the customer, I just told her that there were some notes  that 
sounded kind of dead to me that I wanted to address at the next  appointment. 
 They've had no complaints, because there was enough sound  when the outside 
strings weren't muted to negate the deadened strings--unless,  of course, you 
were listening for it.
 
I seated and lifted strings, and attempted to get clean termination points,  
all to no avail.
 
There seems to be adequate downbearing, and odds are, negative or  inadequate 
downbearing would affect all the strings of a unison, no?
 
Any suggestions are welcomed!
 
Thanks,
 
Dave Stahl

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