[CAUT] Mason & Hamlin agraffes

[Fred Sturm]

Hi Don,
	I had a similar experience with a M & H A of similar vintage a few  
years back. Spent an hour or so doing fruitless things, with no  
improvement. I was convinced it was sympathetic vibrations, though,  
for some reason that seemed good at the time, probably mostly to do  
with "apparent location of sound."
	The customer didn't call me back until maybe three years had passed,  
and that time the noises weren't there. Meanwhile, I had "sweated  
blood" on a Samick product K&C 6' + grand for several calls looking  
for a tenor buzz, and finally determined that one plate screw in the  
low tenor wasn't quite snug. I had tightened screws, or at least felt  
them for snugness. Maybe I had assumed after the first ten or so were  
snug that I didn't need to bother insinuating my body under the lid to  
get the last couple that were hard to reach. I don't know. Anyway, I  
managed to isolate the noise to one screw. A tiny bit of turning made  
it go away. A tiny turn back made the noise come back. I love it when  
that happens.
	I assume there was a buzz between the bottom of the plate and the  
height adjustment screws. Or maybe they are very hard wood dowels on  
the K&C (I'm having a moment of doubt, here, and thinking that maybe  
there were two dowels of slightly different heights). M & H has screws  
instead of dowels. So I did the same for the M&H as a cautionary  
process. THe noise hasn't yet returned (but the customer continues to  
be a regular "every couple years" so how do I know).
	FWIW. You may well be on the right track suspecting agraffes. Usually  
you can isolate that by placing a screwdriver blade firmly on the  
string in front of the agraffe and playing, to see if that eliminates  
it for that note. Screwdriver on/off, buzz on/off. Usually <G>. But  
sometimes it's very fussy, and only happens on a certain amplitude  
blow, and drives you nuts :-(
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico
fssturm at unm.edu



On Jan 6, 2008, at 8:41 PM, Donald McKechnie wrote:

> Happy New Year List!
>
> A relatively new private customer of mine has a M&H A from the  
> 1920's and it exhibits some unpleasant buzzing sounds in the tenor  
> section. Some notes are worse than others. I have tried several  
> times to lessen the problem but it is never to the complete  
> satisfaction of the owner. (BTW, I'm the second technician she has  
> employed to deal with this piano. The first gladly turned this over  
> to me :-) Things I have tried included various hammer voicing  
> techniques that deal with buzzing strings (I would like to see this  
> particular set of hammers replaced but I do not think they are the  
> problem), manipulating the strings in the front and back of the  
> agraffe and installing string couplers on the strings at the front  
> side of the agraffe. The only thing that has lessened the buzzing is  
> the couplers but the problem tends to come back some time after  
> installation. I've tried adding more couples and placing them in  
> different positions but this is never enough for the customer at  
> some point after my visit.
>
> From my experience with Steinways that have similar problems, this  
> buzzing will be solved with replacing the agraffes. Yes, I  
> understand one can recondition agraffes to be like new in some cases  
> but I mostly prefer to replace with new. I believe the agraffes on  
> this M&H need to be replaced to solve this problem. I have a S&S B  
> in the shop now that exhibits pretty much the same problem. Michelle  
> and I replaced one of the worst agraffes and restrung with new wire.  
> Problem solved. I plan to show this piano to my customer.
>
> I have never replaced agraffes on a M&H. So, any help from  
> experienced M&H folks is greatly appreciated. I have heard from some  
> local technicians that this can be very problematic. Is it true that  
> these agraffes may have odd sized threaded stems and are not  
> available? Will I experience any problems trying to unscrew them?  
> Given that they do not look too bad, can I expect these to  
> recondition like new? I have some reamers that Chris Robinson was  
> recommending some years back. These look like good tools to do the  
> reconditioning job. Any other reamers you recommend? I have not  
> looked for the Journal that dealt with all things agraffe but plan  
> to do so tomorrow. Anyone know off hand what month and year that was?
>
> Thanks much for any comments and suggestions.
>
> Don
>
>
>
> Don McKechnie
> Piano Technician
> Ithaca College
> dmckech at ithaca.edu
> 607.274.3908
>
>
>
>
>

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