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<DIV><FONT size=2> Heard (and felt, through my =
tuning hammer
and the floor, as though someone had dropped an armchair or sofa) a loud =
bang
from a 1903 Rembrandt upright I was tuning today. I had =
cleaned
it out, tightened the plate screws, seated strings, filed hammers, =
regulated,
and did a half-step pitch raise. No audible protests from the =
piano. I then started over to do my fine tuning. Set the
temperament, tuned octaves to the top, then started in on the bass, and =
while
tuning bass unisons, I heard "the big bang". Now the first octave =
of the
plain wire section was suddenly a quarter-step flat, but the bass =
and rest
of the treble were still up to A=440 level. So I took the action =
out and
with a bright light inspected the plate very closely and could find no
cracks. There was one hitch pin that had two very small hairline =
cracks
around it, but someone (maybe the factory?) had relocated the hitch pin =
about 2
inches lower, out of the cracked area. I searched and searched and =
could find no evidence of plate cracking, rib separation, bridge =
splitting,
pinblock separation or anything else having given way. The =
dampers
and hammers were still in proper relation to strings, still =
regulated.
It's a 3/4 plate, if that matters. I re-tuned it a quarter-step =
low,
lowering the previously-raised sections back down, for fear of ruining =
the
piano, and it seems to be holding. Still don't know if the plate =
cracked
or what gave or shifted or settled. Sure scared me, even =
though
I've had a plate break on me before. The other time, =
which
sounded like a rifle shot, was a Baldwin console, and it broke not =
across
a strut, but across the lower web, below the mid-treble. Part =
of the
plate jutted forward, jamming against wippen tails. And exactly =
under the
break, on the bottom board, was a little pile of sand. Someone =
knocked
sand into the molten iron, causing a weak spot in the casting, I =
guess.
Fortunately, it was still under warranty and they replaced the plate and =
restrung. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2> But this is the first time I'm =
not
absolutely sure of what caused the big bang. No, there was =
nobody
moving furniture, no construction outside, no sonic booms; it =
came
from the piano. Weird. Wot hoppinked?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> --Dave Nereson, RPT, Denver</DIV></BODY></HTML>