strings cannot be tuned!

[Ronald R Shiflet]

	I had a Kimball spinet that kept dropping pitch after a pitch
raise.  I looked all over for a cracked plate but couldn't find it.  I
called Roger Weisensteiner at Kimball from the customers home and he told me where to look to find the crack in the plate.  It was really well
hidden and hard to see but the crack existed.

Ron

On Fri, 17 Jan 1997 10:00:16 -0500 (EST) Wimblees@aol.com writes:
>In a message dated 97-01-16 21:36:44 EST, you write:
>
>>I service a Howard Grand piano. The owner told me when I started
>>tuning for him that there were three notes in  the upper treble that
>would
>>not stay in tune . He mentioned that there had been a string or two
>replaced
>>on those notes so I thought it must be going out of tune before the
>rest of
>>the piano because of the new strings streaching . However, I had a
>terible
>>time tuning these notes . they are the G6 , G#6 , and A6 . The G and
>G# are
>>the two notes to the Left of the highest plate strut and the A
>>is to the Right of the strut . Each time I would tune these notes a
>good
>test
>>blow would knock them out again. Even trying to anticipates how much
>the
>test
>>blow would drop the
>>pitch of the note did not help. After about 15 minutes on these three
>notes
>I
>>was somehow able to stabalize them and the owner said they stayed in
>tune
>>longer than usual. On my next visit it was even worse . I must have
>spent 20
>>minutes trying to tune these notes and when they were stabalized the
>unisons
>>did not match well.
>>
>>       The bridge looks fine and the coils on the tuning pin looks
>good. I
>>suspect because the notes are all beside each other and they are on
>either
>>side of a plate strut that the problem is not in the strings but in
>the
>>structure of the piano in this area . only these notes are a problem
>. Does
>>anyone have any ideas as to what might be going on here
>>I would greatly appreciate any input anyone might have
>>
>>
>>                               Russell Schmidt R.P.T.
>>
>>                                Lexington , KY
>>
>>
>
>
>Look very carefully at the plate struts and see if you can see a crack
>in the
>plate. It might be hidden, and not noticeable to the naked eye. If
>that is
>the problem, unless the customer is willing to have the plate welded,
>which
>mean removing the plate, and then restringing, the piano will never
>stay in
>tune, and it could explode at any time.
>
>Willem Blees RPT
>St. Louis.
>