Richard Start looking away from the piano. The buzz might sound like it's coming from the piano, but it's really coming from a nick knack on a shelve, or heating grate, or pencils sitting in a cup on the desk, and then amplified by the soundboard. It sounds crazy but that's how I've been able to eliminate quite a few strange sounds. Willem (Wim) Blees, RPT Piano Tuner/Technician Mililani, Oahu, HI 808-349-2943 Author of: The Business of Piano Tuning available from Potter Press www.pianotuning.com -----Original Message----- From: Richard Adkins <RADKINS at coe.edu> To: caut at ptg.org Sent: Wed, 25 Feb 2009 4:39 am Subject: Re: [CAUT] Kawai GE3 mystery buzz 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/20090225/4c7ebafe/attachment.html>
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