[pianotech] Mason & Hamlin Random Resonator

Will Truitt surfdog at metrocast.net
Wed Mar 11 16:26:18 PDT 2009


To all:

 

I am finishing up a Mason & Hamlin A 3 and will be delivering it in a couple
of days.  It's got a new board, and I am doing the last of the voicing and
tuning on the Weikert hammers.  It sounds good, BUT for a very high pitched
buzz (hiss) or zing that I need to isolate and get rid of.  I've done the
usual stuff - all glue joints are solid, all screws snug, etc, etc.  I went
over the piano with a fine toothed comb and a microscope chasing the first
bad buzz for over a week - which turned out to be a plate bolt washer under
the plate near the treble end - I finally caught it when it glinted just
right in my mirror with LED light.

 

Anyway, I believe this high pitched overtone is likely coming from the
tension resonator.  If I tap it with my knuckle, I get the same sound coming
off of it.  Checking the two large bolts that attach the arms of the
resonator to the inner rim, I found that I could loosen them with my
fingers.  It is my guess that they were more than finger tightened in the
factory in 1913.

 

Obviously, I need to at least snug these at a minimum.  My question is this:
Does anyone have any experience with tightening, snugging these puppies?
I'm not trying to pull the rim in as they may have been doing in the
factory, but I would like to at least get an appropriate amount of tension
on each of the bars, so as to minimize any sympathetic (unsympathetic is
more like it!) vibrations.  

 

Any help would be appreciated.  Thanks.

 

Will Truitt

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