'D' buzz

[Blaine Vesely]

Avery,
Depending on your environmental control, humidity related loose glue joints 
may be a cause.  If glue joints are solid, check for loose glue flakes 
around the edge of the soundboard along the inner rim.  The shelf above the 
rear leg may be a storehouse for glue remnants that have separated and 
fallen on the backbottom.  Knock the loose ones off the bottom of the 
soundboard along the rim or belly rail.  Another place to look is the 
connection between bass and long bridge.  That gap between soundboard and 
bridge may have hidden excess glue that gave way from the wood and is 
lodged in that space--also a nice place for a paper clip to 
hibernate.  This year's lack of humidity here has certainly caused all 
sorts of buzzes, too.

Regarding hinge pins, are they solid or loose?  The reason I ask is that a 
loose one may vibrate, so you bend the pin or tighten the hinge with a 
punch.  If it is tight, or you make it really tight with a punch or bending 
the pin, this could be a source of a buzz, too.  Does the lid creak when it 
is propped?  Watch to see if the lid moves when you are playing the 
notes.  The lid can flex enough to make noises on the middle or back hinges 
if they are overly tight.  Good luck.
Blaine Vesely
Kent, Ohio

At 10:11 AM 2/5/03 -0600, you wrote:
>List,
>
>I have a pretty bad buzz, primarily when F#2 is played firmly (it doesn't
>have to be pounded), on a 5-6 yr. old D in our large concert hall. It's
>also occasionally there on 2-3 other notes in that same area and I've
>pretty much isolated the sound at the tail end of the piano. It's a buzz
>like a large paper clip or coin, etc. on the board might create; "maybe"
>a loose glue joint type of buzz but the other seems more likely. I've also
>checked the hinge pins.
>
>I've tightened everything I can and even taken a telescoping magnet thing
>I have and run it around under the plate in that area and still no luck.
>I'm also thinking about getting an air-compressor in there and seeing if
>I can blow anything out. I've pressed on the board around the rim in that
>area and also from underneath but nothing seems to stop it.
>
>Short of tilting the piano on its side and seeing if anything will fall
>out, I can't think of anything else to do. It is not a bass string winding
>type of buzz.
>
>Can anyone suggest anything I've overlooked? I'm getting desperate enough
>to call one of the Steinway dealer's techs out here! :-) Thanks.
>
>Avery
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