What's da Buzz Baby??

[Don Mannino]

Lar,

That shim between the stretcher and pinblock is a notorious noise maker.
I must have missed your original message or I would have mentioned it.

For general information, here are 3 common buzzes that come from this
area in Kawai grands:

1. The shim you mentioned. Normally you can just tighten down the 3
screws that pass through the plate into the stretcher (upper beam in
Kawai terminology) really tight, and the buzz is gone.  The purpose of
this shim (there are normally 2 of them) is to make the stretcher
straight when the screws are tightened down securely.
2. The lock plunger has a little metal block on the bottom that acts as
the fallboard stopper when the lock is engaged. This little metal block
can work loose and buzz. Tighten the little screw, add a drop of C/A
glue for insurance, and the buzz should be gone.
3. The lock plunger spring is wrapped with felt, but sometimes the felt
is ripped or gets bunched up funny and doesn't work. The easiest repair
for this is to jam about 1/2 of a cotton ball up from the bottom.  It
takes a small blade screwdriver pushing up from below (action removed,
of course), while you simultaneously press down on the lock plunger from
above (The eraser end of a pencil works well for this).

Don Mannino RPT
(Kawai Kicking Boy)