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Dear List,
<p>I just started at the local college. There is one grand piano
there where many plain wire strings and a few bass have a very loud hiss
or sizzle. If is was a bass string you'd think the copper wrap was
loose, but twisting the string didn't help. It is the worst case
of this I've ever seen.
<p>The piano has signs of being worked on. Beside pieces of felt
stuck here and there trying to get rid of the zinging, there are
Pin-Tite stains on the plate and rock hard, overly lacquered hammers.
On other pianos I've had good luck tugging upwards on the string, or cleaning
out the hole in the agraffe. But that hasn't helped in this case.
If I push down firmly on the string on the tuning pin side of the agraffe
it stops. There is felt there so it isn't a vibrating string.
In my research I found a <i>Journal </i>article that mentions that maybe
the agraffe itself is loose.
<p>I wanted to run this by you all before I began testing this theory,
or perhaps someone knows exactly what the problem actually is. (And
because I have the piano faculty looking over my shoulder I want
to be right the first time!)
<p>Thanks for any insights.
<p>Bob Callaghan</html>