Dead strings in restaurants

[harvey]

[Necessarily long]

I believe Bill Bremmer and Ron Nossaman are on target. Bill, thanks for the
reminder. I began thinking along these lines when 'Wim en Debby' [is that
one person or two?] appended the original post with the "restaurant"
information.

OVERVIEW
Manufacturer: ALL
Symptoms: Dead bass (-or-) plain wire strings
Local repair attempts: Seating strings, checking crown, bearing, structure,
bridge integrity, tightening plate lags.
Results: None to momentary improvement
Second level repair attempts: Replacing "sample" strings
Results: Longer term improvement -- measured in weeks to a couple months.
Problem eventually returns.

DISCUSSION:
Imagine the results of placing a length of inner tube between the piano
strings and bridges. No inner tube handy? What about some lard or cooking
oil? Either adds an effective insulator at the critical juncture where
energy is transferred from string to soundboard.

REFERENCE (my first experience):
A Kawai (not Yamaha) GS30, purchased new, in service for less than a year.
Complaint was an overall dead sound. In the interim, local tech had tried
(above) methods toward a solution, and finally called me (at Kawai).
Telephone dialogue became ineffective in this case, and I subsequently had
to see this piano in person. 

On arriving at the site, I found the piano sitting on a small stage... in a
restaurant. Playing the piano was like playing a kitchen table in terms of
volume. Immediately beside the stage were two swinging doors -- one for
waiters 'In', one for waiters 'Out'. I noticed that when -either- door was
opened, a small cloud of smoke from the kitchen would accompany the waiters
until the door automatically closed. Without bothering with crown, bearing,
and replacing strings, I ran my fingers along the length of the strings.
Slippery. I then carefully checked the string to bridge area with a
flashlight, and found small but visible mountains of 'foreign material'
accumulated around the bridge pins.

DIAGNOSIS
Considering the product history (good track record), and adding in the
newly discovered 'local' information, I concluded that this was a one-shot
situation. I assumed (arguably) that the smoke particulates were slowly
being transferred to the piano strings, and that with normal playing,
string vibrations caused the (still-fresh) material to migrate toward
either end of the wire.

CURE (short-term)
A trip to Radio Shack netted an electronics cleaning solvent. I don't
recall the name, but it was probably in the "tri" or "tet" family -- in
other words, likely illegal now. The solvent was liberally applied to the
bridges and the strings (at the moment of contact), and wiped/blotted up
with rags. The oil-slicked speaking lengths were left alone (at least for
the moment). Following what could have been only an experiment, the piano
sprang back to life as if someone had flipped the "on" switch!

CURE (long term)
Repeat short-term cure as required, or MOVE the piano.

CONCLUSIONS
1. All strings are likely affected. Bass strings are our first aural clue;
plain wire is not as immediately obvious. Due to the nature of bass
strings, it's likely the above repair will not work, due to contamination
between outer wraps. (Unless one wanted to "wash" the bass strings in a
hazardous solvent). If this is the problem, just be advised that simply
replacing (plain or wrapped) strings alone is not enough.

2. Was this a manufacturing problem? No. Was this a warranty problem? Other
than my $$$ visit, no.

3. While it's rare, I've since found variations of this scenario in other
products and locations -- including homes.

4. This phenomenon typically applies to grands, due to their open and
vulnerable nature. However, don't rule out the possibility for verticals.

Sorry for the long post. Hopefully there's a message in here somewhere.

Jim Harvey, RPT
PS: Wim en/or Debby -- don't go out on a limb, -or- a hanging piano! Per
your description, and considering that tuning motions differ from playing
motions, I'm not sure I'd even want to tune this piano! As Richard
Davenport would say, "It's only a piano", and/or "I'm glad it's not my piano".


At 09:47 AM 3/16/99 -0500, Bill Bremmer wrote:
[cut]
>I had this problem about 20 years ago with a Kawai piano when Jim Harvey was
>representing that company.  I was really at a loss to understand what was
>happening with the piano but when I told him it was in a restaurant, he didn't
>even hesitate to tell me what the culprit was.
[cut]



At 09:47 AM 3/16/99 -0500, you wrote:
> << Why would new Mapes strings eventually
> >suffer the same fate?  I have suspected structural problems, but have
> >not found anything so far.
>  >>
>
>I have only glanced at this thread because of being busy writing about other
>things but i can tell you in no uncertain terms that if you put a grand piano
>(where the open lid exposes the strings) in a restaurant, you will almost
>certainly get dead (tubby) bass strings sooner or later.
>
>It is environmental contamination.  It is the grease in the air from the
>kitchen that slowly settles on the strings and builds up causing them to go
>dead.  You can't really fix them either by cleaning and twisting although that
>could help a little for a while.  They will go dead again as soon as there is
>more buildup.
>
>We don't realize how much stuff really is floating around.  But think about
>it:  when you enter a place like that or even pass by on the sidewalk, you
>smell the aroma from the kitchen.  Your nose is detecting the tiny droplets of
>grease that is being generated in the kitchen.  It is *everywhere* in the
>building, including inside the piano.
>
>The string cover is the solution.  You need to restring the bass and also
>thoroughly clean the plain wire termination points, then get a string cover
>for the piano that will prevent those contaminants from contacting the
>strings.
>
>I had this problem about 20 years ago with a Kawai piano when Jim Harvey was
>representing that company.  I was really at a loss to understand what was
>happening with the piano but when I told him it was in a restaurant, he didn't
>even hesitate to tell me what the culprit was.
>
>There is a recording made by Dick Hyman on the Musical Heritage Society label
>where he is playing at Chung's Chinese Restaurant.  The bass of the piano has
>that characteristic tubby sound that all the Moo Shoo Pork served night after
>night gives even the best bass strings on the best pianos.
>
>Regards,
>Bill Bremmer RPT
>Madison, Wisconsin