[CAUT] Funny Noises

[Alan McCoy]

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Ken,

Glad to hear of your success in solving this problem. For future reference
other maddening sources of clicks that haven=B9t been mentioned in this great
thread are loose key leads and underlever leads.

Alan

-- Alan McCoy, RPT

Eastern Washington University
119 Music Bldg
Cheney, WA 99004

(509) 359-4627
amccoy@mail.ewu.edu



From: Ken Zahringer <ZahringerK@missouri.edu>
Reply-To: "College and University Technicians <caut@ptg.org>" <caut@ptg.org=
>
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2005 15:13:15 -0600
To: "College and University Technicians <caut@ptg.org>" <caut@ptg.org>
Subject: [CAUT] Funny Noises

Okay, friends and neighbors, this is one for the books.

I wrote down notes on all your suggestions, shouldered my big tool case, an=
d
went downstairs to do battle with the D.  I pulled the action and put it on
a table and started checking.  It bothered me a little that it took so much
harder of a blow to make the note click on the bench than in the piano, but
I figured this was due to some resonance thing going on.  I couldn=B9t make i=
t
click by manually manipulating individual parts, like the jack or the rep
lever, but it clicked real well when I struck the key.  I couldn=B9t see the
jack hitting anything, so I decided to remove the hammer and see what
happened.  No click.  In looking at the flange, I noticed a small black lin=
e
on the underside of the nose of the flange.  Aha! The jack was hitting the
flange, and left a graphite mark!  I replaced the hammer, and looked at it
some more.  For some reason, the tip of that flange was a little lower that
its neighbors, as were some the other clicking notes.  I didn=B9t want to mes=
s
with key dip, since I just barely had enough, so I played around with
shimming the flange.  I ended up putting some travel paper under the back
side of the flange (opposite the drop screw) crossways, only on the vertica=
l
part of the very back part of the groove.  I wish I could draw a picture!
Any way, the result was to move the flange back, and raise the drop screw
end as it rode up on the rail.  Of course, this necessitated readjusting th=
e
capstan, letoff, and drop.  After that, no more click on the bench!   Almos=
t
home!

The action goes back into the piano, and it clicks just like it did before.
The work process is interrupted at this point by a short stream of
unprintable comments.  The action comes out, and I can=B9t make it click for
love or money.  Back in, and it clicks on a keystroke that=B9s barely mf.
Okay, think now.  It must be something in the piano that=B9s making the noise=
.
Dampers!  Hold the damper up, play the note.  No click.  Aha again!  Pull
the action out, work the damper.  No click.  Work the damper really hard.
No click.  I notice that the dampers on the clicking notes travel up quite =
a
bit farther than their neighbors.  Finally the light comes on.  Earlier, in
regulating the sostenuto, I had bent the bracket down to get the bar
properly lined up with the tabs.  It didn=B9t work at all before I started
working on it during semester break, and it doesn=B9t work now.  But the clic=
k
sure went away after I bent the bracket back up!  The underlever was, of
course, hitting the sostenuto bar.  I don=B9t think I ever heard the jack hit
the flange when the action was in the piano, and I=B9m not sure I ever played
the notes hard enough to make it hit.  It was a rather effective distracter=
,
though.

Now I just hope the pianist for the Amadeus Trio won=B9t need the sostenuto
Friday night.  I don=B9t think it=B9s going to work until I replace the
underlever action, and that=B9s not going to happen this week.  Boy, I=B9m glad
this is over.

Ken Z.
--=20
Ken Zahringer, RPT
Piano Technician
University of Missouri School of Music
297 Fine Arts Bldg
Columbia, MO 65211
573-882-1202
cell 573-489-7529



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