Wild strings in new pianos

[Ron Nossaman]

At 06:38 PM 8/5/98 -0400, you wrote:
>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


Have him try this. Find a string that's good and wild. Isolate it from the
rest of the unison with mutes as necessary. Position a screwdriver blade on
the side of the speaking length bridge pin opposite where the string touches
(right side). Push on the pin with the screwdriver as you play the note. If
the string clears up, it's loose bridge pins, probably from a too soft
bridge cap. If it isn't the bridge pin, it's probably the front duplex.
Loose bridge pins will usually give you a fairly clearly discernable beat,
however fast, whereas front duplex noises tend more toward alien whistles
and shrieks. The cost and advertised "quality" of the piano has very little
to do with it.

 Ron