Sympathetic Vibration

[Arlie Rauch]

Just want to thank you for all the ideas in case the vibration  
returns.  It will give me some more possibilities to check out.

If you all are like me (which you probably are not), we hear lots of  
noises and sometimes assume they are normal unless the customer says  
something.  I usually try to fix pedal noises, even if the customer  
says nothing.  But I have discovered that the customer is usually  
really hearing something.  So I do take the customer seriously, and  
usually with a bit of effort I can also hear what she/he is hearing,  
and usually that leads to a fix or at least to an explanation.

I won't go into examples.  But thanks to all who weighed in.

Arlie

On Nov 20, 2007, at 9:08 PM, pianotech-request at ptg.org wrote:

> Message: 7
> Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2007 19:46:21 -0600
> From: "Michael Magness" <IFixPianos at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: Sympathetic Vibration
> To: "Pianotech List" <pianotech at ptg.org>
> Message-ID:
> 	<695f236e0711201746y757d089dh7b50e390122a62f4 at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> On Nov 20, 2007 11:34 AM, Arlie Rauch <adarpub at midrivers.com> wrote:
>> I tuned for a customer yesterday who complained of a sympathetic
>> vibration.  The piano is a nice Yamaha studio, just a few years old.
>> The mother of the house was not home, but her daughter who takes
>> lessons was.  When I struck the C below middle C, she said, There's
>> the vibration.  The sound was being made by a wallhanging, which,
>> incidentally was a curvy metal musical staff with a couple notes on
>> it.  Damping that solved the problem.
>>
>> This morning the customer called certain that the vibration had been
>> there before the wallhanging had (not that she was still hearing
>> it).  Only problem is that that was the only vibration we heard, it
>> was identified by the pupil, and damping it eliminated the problem.
>>
>> The customer thinks it's in the piano.  Just wondering whether any of
>> you have noticed strange vibrations associated with Yamaha pianos.
>> I've tuned quite a few, and I've never noticed anything strange
>> typical of that brand and especially difficult to trace.
>>
>> Arlie Rauch
>>
> I hate to be the only one answering with a serious answer here but I
> have noticed the whatchamacallit that Yamaha puts on the bottom of the
> action rail at the break between tenor and treble. The threaded piece
> that has the rubber/neoprene bumper on the plate side that is supposed
> to hold the action in place from moving? rattling? I have noticed it
> vibrates loose or the bumper wears off or hardens and has a
> distinctive rattle on certain notes when they are struck hard. Both on
> P-22's and U-1's, the only Yamaha studios I see around here.
> Hope that helps,
> Mike
>
>
> -- 
> You never learn anything by doing it right.
> Michael Magness
> Magness Piano Service
> 608-786-4404
> www.IFixPianos.com
> email mike at ifixpianos.com
>
>
>