> Tuned a nine foot Estonia today, it had some noticeable buzzing going > on. I won't pose this as a puzzler as I need some advice on the subject > asap. The cause of the buzzing was broken soundboard buttons. They were > made of some kind of nylon or plastic and all of them had broken in half > thru the screw hole. I took quite a handful of debris from all the > locations and tossed it. Now there are screws standing proud of the > board by a good half-inch. > > The question: Should I order some buttons and replace, or remove all the > screws as a cosmetic solution. I can detect no change in the tonal > quality of the instrument at this point and I don't have any way to tell > if the bridge/board is compromised in any way. The instrument is about > twelve years old and has had hammers shaped and a fine regulation done > of recent times. Except for a poor feel in the action, which would > benefit mightily with a Stanwood application and a lightening of the > hammers, I don't find the piano in too bad of shape. Yes, the buzzing is > gone. And, yes the Estonia is going to be replace with a Steinway soon. > > Suggestions please? Yea, ship me the Estonia when the Steinway arrives. > Joseph Alkana RPT While the bridge isn't likely to jump off of the soundboard if you were to either just remove the screws or leave them as they are, some unimaginative soul will surely eventually crawl under there and be traumatized (probably at high volume) by seeing something different from what they expect, despite the lack of tonal deficiency. That's just the way it is. Since the absence of buttons wasn't planned or intentional, I'd take the path of least resistance and avoid the witch hunt by replacing them with new, with a dab of PVC-E underneath as buzz bane. Fight the battles you care about - profit from the ones you don't. Ron N
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