"Wild Strings"

[Paul McCloud]

Hi, Mike:
    To quote a past President, "I feel your pain!".
    Are you sure there weren't any ceiling fans on?  They'll  mess you up if 
you're not aware of them.  Just a thought...
    Paul  McCloud
    San Diego
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike McCoy" <mjmccoy at usa.com>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech at ptg.org>
Sent: Wednesday, November 22, 2006 1:31 PM
Subject: "Wild Strings"


> Hi All,
>
> I have been meaning to write about this for some time and a piano today 
> finally put me over the edge. I don't know if my hearing and/or listening 
> skills are improving or if I am having a real bad run of pianos with "wild 
> strings", or "false beats" if you prefer that term. I hate leaving pianos 
> in that condition but just how much time can you spend trying to resolve 
> these beats and still make the next appointment and be profitable?
>
> Today's issue was a couple year old Schirmer & Sons upright, very nice 
> looking piano, decent Detoa action, agraffes bottom to top, decent tone, 
> GREAT feel to the block, but, EVERY single string had it's own beats. I 
> had no choice but to pull the action and try to resolve this. Seated all 
> strings, but the majority seemed to be well seated, no loose bridge pins, 
> nothing obvious. Pushing on bridge pins with a screwdriver had no effect. 
> Massaged the worst offenders but really, nothing worked well. At this 
> point I'm assuming poor bridge notching ( I can't see as well as I used 
> to). Anyway, finally had to tune the damn thing and move on but I wasn't 
> happy. This one is probably a good candidate for Pitchlok.
>
> Do you folks tend to tune these "wild" pianos as best you can and move 
> forward or do you spend some time?
>
> Thanks! Happy Thanksgiving!
>
> Mike McCoy
>