[CAUT] Kawai GE3 mystery buzz

[Nancy Salmon]

I agree with Barbara. Kawai even has instructions involving stuffing the
lock with cotton balls. I've had good luck making a buckskin or felt "thong"
for the lock; weaving it in the hole, over the lock, and back in the hole. A
tidy rectangle of felt is visible. It does not force the lock down far
enough to interfere with the fallboard.

Also check for loose agraffes vibrating sympathetically. Nancy Salmon RPT

Frostburg State MD

On Wed, Feb 25, 2009 at 9:39 AM, Richard Adkins <RADKINS at coe.edu> wrote:

>  I'll bet one of your Kawai experts can help me with a myster buzz
> around C6. Well, it is ON C6, but also a few notes above and a few
> notes below.
>
> To me, is sounds like a buzz from a crack but it might be described as
> a kazoo sound....but not papery, exactly. I'm told it has done this
> for quite a while, but they never mentioned it to me until this week!
>
> I've never heard it when I tune.
>
>
>  I spent about 1.5hrs trying to track it down. I have tightend all screws
> on the entire piano, including the lid, etc. Most were very tight, and only
> a few were slightly not tight. I air blew the board incase there
> might be a paperclip under the plate, etc. NOPE...not there.
>
>  You can hear the buzz from under the piano, but it is loudest in the area
> around C6 above the piano. It is either around/near the capo, but
> sounds like the board.
>
>  I tried the bridge pins....nope, the front and back "duplexes".
> NOPE.... The backs are muted
> by felt, anyhow. I tried: the strings near the tuning pins. Seating strings
> to bridge.
> Muting off duplexes. I tightened the damper guide rail screws...but also
> tried pressing
> said rail when playing the buzzing notes... NOPE....
>
> Yes, I removed the music rack, tested the prop sticks, and hinges, prop
> stick cups, too... nope....
>
> I tested the damper tray, the sustenuto lever and the lever jack. NOPE
> I tested the pedal lyre holding rods, nope....all the trap springs are
> muted
> with felt...nope....
>
> As I said all the screws were tightened, including the action screws, the
> damper stop rail, the damper tray screws, the damper lever flange screws
> etc. Every screw I could find, I tested to be sure it was tight enough,
> including
> screws in the keybed.
>
> I tested the bridge pins, front and back....NOPE....seated strings front
> and back, too...NOPE....
>
> I reshaped C6, did some shoulder voicing... NOPE....
>
> Nothing I'm doing seems to work.
>
> Maybe it is coming from the capo bar? If there's bleed through, how come it
> doesn't go away if
> I mute it off?
>
> There are no cracks in the board, and the bridge seems to be securely
> glued.
>
> I did not feel any buzzing from under the board when pressing the ribs,
> they
> all seem to be glued properly. But it is hard to get in there all the way.
> I tried
> damping the board with my fingers, but that didn't do anything.
>
> I thought I might try lifting the strings on both sides of the capo bar.
> That's about
> the only thing I didn't do.
>
> De-tuning the unisons did not work to eliminate this buzz/fuzz either.
>
> Why does it sound like it's the board? or something under the plate near
> the front duplexes?
>
> I believe it is still under warranty. Ser# 2328919 (1998) but just barely!
>
> If you have some ideas, I'd appreciate your help, it is driving the profs
> nuts....and me, too, since I'm
> the one who has to find/fix it. I'd like to turn this nope to a yup!
>
> Thanks,
> Richard  Adkins
> Coe College Music Dept.
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut_ptg.org/attachments/20090225/3f6a94f1/attachment-0001.html>