<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; = charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2604" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#d8d0c8> <DIV><FONT size=2>First visit to a rebuilt 1917 S&S D, not = well-maintained, and exposed to humidity swings (10 years after a rebuild, and = there's an 8-inch crack right behind the bridge, about octave 6).  Lots of = false beats around C3, so I decided to seat the strings (tapping with a brass = rod right in front of the speaking length pin).</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>I was surprised at the variety of sounds I = heard.  Mostly the note sounded in a strange way, with sustain.  Sometimes the = sustain was shorter; this seemed to correlate to the string having climbed up the = pin.  Sometimes there was a loud thunk: the rod slipped off the string and hit = the bridge (oops!).</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>It seemed that one could gather valuable diagnostic information by listening to the variety of sounds produced... if only I = knew what to listen for.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>Suggestions?</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>--Cy Shuster--</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>Bluefield, WV</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>