More False Beats S&S

[Joe & Penny Goss]

Terry,
Two things come to mind.
Are you getting false beats from the waste ends that have not been dampened
with string braid and in the upper treb are you real sure that the strings
are level and a good mating of the hammer and string.
I find that seating the string on the bridge on the upper notes will change
the string level at the striking point. Be Sure you are on the level! Check
the address below O:)
Joe Goss
imatunr@primenet.com
http://www.primenet.com/~imatunr/

----- Original Message -----
From: Farrell <mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2001 11:51 AM
Subject: More False Beats S&S


> Tuning a 1996 S&S M today I noticed many prominent false beats in the
> hi-treble section. The lower half of this section had lots of clear
beating
> false beats. The upper half had what I call cymbal-tone syndrome. Presumed
> false beats are so fast that it just sounds like a cymbal being hit.
>
> Thinking of  loose bridge pins, I immediately got out my trusty little
brass
> rod and put into combination handle. Isolate falsely beating string.
Gently
> place rod on top of bridge pin (just the weight of rod & handle and maybe
> just a little pressure - but VERY lightly). False beat does not go away,
but
> tone dies out real fast, like the string was poorly muted. Press on string
> immediately in back of front bridge pin - no effect (unless you press REAL
> hard, then tone dies a bit because you are pressing hard enough to affect
> soundboard's ability to vibrate), press light or hard on rear bridge pin,
no
> effect. Tried this on a number of bad strings. Same thing. Press on front
> pin, false beat remains AND string is somewhat muted, press on other areas
> of bridge and no effect.
>
> So what to do? I seated all strings in this section to the bridge. By hand
> only, I tapped brass rod in combination handle on strings between pins,
ran
> the notched brass rod back and forth along speaking length while applying
> pressure, and then tapped on both sides of pins (kinda angling the string
> into the pin/bridge angle). Test strings. False beats pretty well
eliminated
> in lower half of section. Cymbal-tones still present in upper half.
>
> So what happened in the lower half of this section? Why did just touching
> (super-duper lightly only) the forward bridge pins cause the strings to
mute
> out? On the Boston that I posted on recently, as well as many other
pianos,
> you hear a false beat and when you press gently on loose bridge pin, false
> beat is eliminated AND tone remains clear and un-muted. as this a case of
> only string seating being needed? Or are there loose bridge pins, and
> jamming the strings into the little corner of the bridge pin and bridge
just
> stabilize the loose bridge pin? Obviously, we'll see over time. I'm gonna
> watch this one closely.
>
> I'm really trying to understand the causes of so much garbage sounds that
> emanate from the high treble of pianos (er, a, well thinking of some other
> pianos, I guess anywhere on the scale!). Any thoughts on this situation?
>
> Terry Farrell
> Piano Tuning & Service
> Tampa, Florida
> mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com
>
>