A metallic sound from bridge pin/string?-Ric

[Ric Brekne]

Hi Dave..

Ok... if you've ruled out the front termination then you have.  Glad to 
hear you checked it.   I've re-read tho the posts and am still a bit 
unclear on how you have become 100 % convinced its the Bridge pin 
itself... but assuming it is... why not just pull it, get a nice new one 
of same size and epoxy it in place ?

This is one of those times I'd just love to hear the sound.  Even today 
its a bit cumbersom to take a good sample and make it available to the 
list...  doable tho.  It would be great if we could all listen tho...

I agree on your general evaluation of potential for these instruments 
tho....  This has been on my mind about Tzech pianos ever since I first 
bumped into them.  Modern Tzech pianos are heavily influenced by 
Petrof... which under communist rule more or less assimiliated all piano 
manufactureres in the area and did there version of what Samick does in 
Korea today.  Bohemia is no exception.  Nice overall sound picture... 
but not particularly pure beat free sound.... lots of extraneous noises 
and an action that can always benifit from the work of a good tech.  
They do something important right... to bad they dont finish the job.

Del said something a few years back that stuck... A good design poorly 
executed is better then a poor design perfectly executed.

Tzech pianos... my favorite pianos to hate :).... and i mean that in the 
most positive of senses...

Cheers
RicB

 Ric,
 
By trial and error, I found out where the problem is: right at the front 
bridge pin.  Making it "get out, and stay out!" is the problem.  
 
Muting the front duplex was about the first thing I tried.  I leveled 
the strings as well.  As I said, the noise doesn't happen on the attack, 
it's an after-the-fact noise, slightly delayed from the initial envelope 
of sound.
 
Funny that you mention the tuning.  This particular piano seemed a bit 
more difficult to tune than the normal 185.  When I'd finished, I 
thought it was going to be a very good tuning, but it ended up being 
mediocre.  Moving target might be a good description.  I'm banking that 
it will settle down.  In an institutional setting like the one I'm 
assuming yours are in, these must be challenging to keep on top of.
 
But I like these pianos overall.  I think they have potential.  They do 
have voicing needs, though, don't they?
 
Dave Stahl