Wild strings in new pianos

Z! Reinhardt diskladame@provide.net
Wed, 5 Aug 1998 19:52:12 -0400


Some off-the-wall suggestions ...

1]  Do a modest tuning, then level the strings.  Make sure the termination
point under the v-bar is as *solid* as it is at the bridgepins after the
tapping already mentioned.

2]  Do an ultra-fussy job tuning the piano, paying particular attention to
the top 2 octaves.

3]  How nicely shaped are the hammers? How's the voicing?  Too bright? 
Then fix it.

4]  Remove the keyblocks (cheekblocks) and slide the action front and back
while playing the highest notes continuously until the tone sounds best. 
Any improvement?

5]  How's the profile of the v-bar itself?  Sometimes it may be too sharp
or too dull.  Perhaps someone would like to take a stab at correcting that
if that turns out to be the problem.

6]  If these pianos are brand new, talk to the manufacturer's technicians. 
They're usually pretty interested in helping techs do best by their pianos.

Z! Reinhardt RPT
Ann Arbor  MI
diskladame@provide.net

----------
> From: Ted Simmons <ted@brevard.net>
> To: pianotech@ptg.org
> Subject: Wild strings in new pianos
> Date: Wednesday, August 05, 1998 6:38 PM
> 
> I'm posting this for a piano technician friend of mine who works on a lot
> of new pianos.  He has noticed that recently many of the new, high-cost,
> pianos have a lot of wild strings in the upper treble.  He has been
unable
> to correct this situation by the usual methods:  tapping the string at
the
> hitch pins and bridge pins; tapping the bridge pins, moving the string at
> the V-bar, and rubbing the string along its speaking length. He's talking
> upper class pianos that cost $30,000 and up.  I won't mention any names
but
> I'll tell you, he works on some classy pianos.  I couldn't offer any
> suggestions for him but offered to post this to the pianotech list for
some
> possible solutions.
> 
> Any suggestions?
> 
> Ted Simmons
> Merritt Island, FL
> 
> 


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