<html> <head> </head> <body> Sounds like a loose bass bridge apron to me.  Check to make sure both sides of the apron are secured and that it isn't leaning one way or another.  Check the bridge caps to see if they are loose or if the bridge pins themselves are loose due to cracks.  Down bearing could be an issue but not likely since the tenor and treble sound good.  The last, (but not all that likely), theory is that the bass strings are of poor quality and all of them are sounding this way as a group.  This would be a bit hard for me to believe that forty something bass strings all fail all at once but then again...<br> <br> Rob Goodale, RPT<br> Las Vegas, NV<br> <br> Alan R. Barnard wrote:<br> <blockquote type="cite" cite="mid:004201c23fae$26409020$296c10d0@yourfulkl1oh2q"> <meta content="MSHTML 6.00.2716.2200" name="GENERATOR"> <style></style> <div><font face="Arial" size="2">1921 Geo. Steck small grand. The bass strings can't be as old as the piano. They are still copper-colored and "look" fairly clean etc.</font></div> <div> </div> <div><font face="Arial" size="2">But when struck, the bichord notes have very little sustain. The singles do better. The tenor and treble sounds great, very sweet actually.</font></div> <div> </div> <div><font face="Arial" size="2">I tried the old remove-loop-and-roll on the worst note. The string looks a little brighter but I can't tell much difference in the sound.</font></div> <div> </div> <div><font face="Arial" size="2">Any ideas? I wondered about a downbearing problem or something but would assume such a design flaw would be unlikely.</font></div> <div> </div> <div><font face="Arial" size="2">Alan R. Barnard</font></div> </blockquote> <br> </body> </html>