Everyday somthing new

[Bill Pillmore]

Bellow are my responses.  I am going to try to contact the other
technician to see if he can shed some light on the issue.  I am also
going back tomorrow to see if the string were twisted in the wrong
direction.  Even still the problem occurred, according the the customer
before the other technician twisted the strings.
Bill

Newton Hunt wrote:
> 
> THis sounds suspiciously as if the strings themselves are not to be
> believed. :)
> 
> Is it at all possible that some part of the plate and bridge are
> contacting each other, enough to cause the bridge to stop vibrating.  I
> am thinking changes in humidity could cause the problem.
> 
Not obvious on inspection

> Check the board crown in that area.
> 
I'm not sure how to do this with the ribs and cabinet braces on such a
small grand.  The bearing at the bridge was below normal but there was some.

> Tap on the board in and around that area to see if there are dead areas.
> 
Everything seemed fine 

> Try to get something under the bridge apron and lift to see if that
> changes anything.
> 
With the customer playing two adjacent notes whose string went over the
area of a rim and case support where I applied pressure there was no
appreciable difference.  

> Check the bridge cap.
what was exposed showed no separation
> 
>                 Newton

Bill Pillmore wrote:

> Maybe someone can explain this.  I went to a customer today to give a
> second opinion on restringing the bass section of her 20 year old 5'1""
> Kawai grand.  What I found was the whole bass section was dead as a door
> nail.  My first inclination was the bass bridge was coming unglued but
> there was no indication of this. (The bass bridge where it is glued is
> mostly under the plate and out of view.)  Putting pressure on the bass
> bridge seemed to show it was intact.  The customer said after a normal
> tuning from her regular tuner, the strings seemed to go dead.  The
> technician after referring to a colleague twisted the strings and she
> thought they sounded better for a day or so but now he is saying the
> bass section needs to be restrung.  Although there is little bearing
> there is some.  I tuned down a string made sure it was seated on the
> bridge, messed around scratched my head, and retuned the string.  It
> bounced back to life and two or three other strings did the same.
> Before getting further involved I thought I might want to think about
> this for a day.  I have never seen anything like this before.  Any help?
> Bill