[CAUT] treble string clarity

[Ron Nossaman]

Dr. Henry Nicolaides wrote:
> 
> Hi List,
>  
> I have tuned several concert instruments lately that has brought this 
> question to my mind again.  Since I have rebuilt/restrung over the years 
> I have some perspective but am wondering what you think and if there is 
> any ideas for remedy, short of replacing the offending strings.  One of 
> the pianos is a 20 year old SD10 and the other is a "newer" Steinway B.  
> The clarity and brilliance begins to fall apart towards the top, around 
> C6 and gets worse going to C8.  The top treble was significantly sharp, 
> "overstreched" to my ears and by measurement upwards of 50 cents.  Has 
> this contributed to the the breakdown of the string which would cause 
> this?  And, is the remedy to replace the offending strings?  My 
> experience tells me I may need to do so.  The hammers are not too hard.  
> I get the same effect whether striking with the hammer or plucking at 
> the strike point.  Any thoughts?  Both pianos are used in performance.
>  
> Thanks for your comments.
>  
> Henry Nicolaides

Yesterday, I knocked down the treble of a Yamaha C-7 that was 
just over a semitone sharp in the last octave. At pitch, it 
was still plenty painful. While you can get some pretty 
chaotic noises from overstretched strings, they likely won't 
go dead. The first thing I'd do in your case is lift and level 
a couple of unisons in the problem areas. This sometimes works 
wonders. If not, replace the strings in those unisons. If it 
still doesn't help, you likely have dead soundboards. This is 
far from uncommon in both models.
Ron N