Nobody Knows the Treble I've Seen ...

[Alan Barnard]

Thanks, gonna try that next time. Or maybe a damp cloth over the hammers
and light touches with the old iron.

If you use the alcohol and water (I'd probably use unadulterated, i.e., non
scented, 70 or 90% isopropyl) do you have to wait overnight or use a dryer
before you can tell how it's doing?

Alan Barnard
Salem, Missouri


> [Original Message]
> From: Susan Kline <skline@peak.org>
> To: Pianotech <pianotech@ptg.org>
> Date: 07/28/2005 7:55:06 PM
> Subject: Re: Nobody Knows the Treble I've Seen ...
>
> At 05:30 PM 7/28/2005 -0500, Alan wrote:
> >New Yamaha GA-1 (yurk): In addition to low treble from hell, the 6th and 
> >7th octaves are just screechers, wild and wooley. On the spectrograph, 
> >some of the individual strings have about 8 peaks each!
>
> Ah, but are they woolly? Or are they hardened within an inch of their
lives?
>
> If you have permission to voice this Yamaha GA-1 (yurk) piano, and the 
> owner agrees that the treble is way too screechy, (some owners are deaf
-- 
> they might even like it) you might try what I do (given permission, etc.) 
> Pull out the little action, and give the top octave one small drop of
vodka 
> directly into the grooves. I think you'll find the 8 peaks getting less 
> high and steep. Maybe you'll end up with 6 peaks, or 4, or something.
I've 
> never metered the results except with my ears.
>
> Too little felt to needle up there, and anyway, it's all solid as a rock. 
> Vodka never broke a fiber yet. Besides, some owners enjoy the jokes.
"Your 
> piano is just too _dry_. It needs a drink ..." etc. However, in the high 
> treble, it doesn't need a BIG drink, and it shouldn't get into the habit
of 
> drinking.
>
> In octave 6, I'm more likely to work on the duplex (a little strip of 
> bushing cloth, a dab of gaffer's tape, even a drop of white glue ...)
with 
> maybe a chopstick needle on a few string grooves, and a whole heap of 
> tweaking and beating in the unisons. But octave 7 usually carries a lot 
> more lacquer or *whatever it is.*
>
> Wearing alcohol-proof flamesuit ... thanks, Conrad, nice up to date
fashion 
> statement ...
>
> Susan
>
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