explanation(s), please

[Annie Grieshop]

Reply interspersed....
  -----Original Message-----
  From: Willem Blees [mailto:wimblees at aol.com]
  Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 11:22 AM
  To: annie at allthingspiano.com; pianotech at ptg.org
  Subject: Re: explanation(s), please


  Annie

  On the offending strings/pins, did the strings go way flat, or did the
pins turn? If the pins turned, then the block is shot. Just because the pins
might feel tight, doesn't mean the block is bad. And just the smallest
movement will cause them to go south.

  * I can't tell you whether the pins moved (although I assumed they did, at
that time).  The pins weren't particularly tight... which is why the BANG
was so unexpected.  My tuning hammer was off the pins when they went flat.
Now that you mention it, the times I've heard a similar noise was when I
loosened a pin that I had CAed, not when it moved on its own.

  If the pins stayed, but the string went flat, then you have a plate
problem. One way to see if the plate is cracked is to measure the blow
distance. Check blow distance of note 88, and compare it with the one of the
notes in the 6th octave. Assuming the hammer line is level, if the plate is
cracked, and the middle is pushing up, then the blow distance will be
greater.

  * I didn't notice anything in particular, but I can check next time I'm
there (70 miles from home, of course)... if I'm brave enough to get near the
thing!  I can tell you that the hammer line had been relatively level before
that but was very uneven later (hadn't thought about it until you mentioned
it, there was so much else going on).

  On an old piano like this, advice the customer that this is a serious
problem, and the piano needs to be removed, ASAP, because it could explode,
and cause a great deal of damage and injury if anyone is close to the piano.

  * That's starting to sound like the consensus, isn't it.  Thanks.

  Willem (Wim) Blees, RPT
  Piano Tuner/Technician
  Honolulu, HI
  Author of
  The Business of Piano Tuning
  available from Potter Press
  www.pianotuning.com


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