Thoughts on String Noise

[Zen Reinhardt]

First, a question.  Is your technician a member of the PTG?  If not, I'd be
curious about how he/she stays up-to-date with the incredible influx of
information the members of the PTG are capable of producing and sharing
with each other.

Here are a couple of thoughts, if my experience is anything to go by ...

First of all, the section you described as being where the string noise is
most prevalent is very often the most difficult part of the piano to voice
or to tune.  Why that is I do not know yet, but there it is.

Sounds to me that your piano has a problem of improper seating (firm
contact) of the string at a bearing point.  Now, which bearing point is it?
 There are other bearing points in addition to the two the define the
speaking length, that being the part of the string you hear as a note when
struck with a hammer.

Have you tried the following:  Have you determined which part of the string
the noise is coming from?  I'm talking about playing the note and putting a
finger (literally) on the forestring (the length between the plate nut
closest to the tuning pins and the capo bar, the first obstacle the strings
go under).  Now try putting a finger on the backstring between the bridge
and aliquots (last hurtle before the hitchpins at far end of piano).  If
the noise goes away with your finger on a non-speaking part of the string,
it simply means the string is not making proper contact with the bearing
points that define that particular part of its length.

What to do now.  (The following procedures apply only to non-speaking
lengths of the strings.)  Stick pieces of felt between the offending
strings.  If that makes the note sound too dead relative to its neighbors,
then perhaps a thin ribbon of cotton threaded between the strings can help
eliminate the worst of the noise.  If that is still too much, then try
coating the strings with clear nail polish.  Two or three thin coats is
better than one massive coat prone to dripping while it dries.


Zen Reinhardt, RPT
Ann Arbor  MI
diskladame@provide.net