New Steinway D problem

Richard Brekne Richard.Brekne@grieg.uib.no
Tue, 03 Sep 2002 15:55:42 +0200


Hello eminent colleagues

Today I ran into an odd ball situation I need your good
advice for. Recently there was purchased a brand new
Steinway D for a concert location here in Bergen. After a
few months use it developed a nasty buzz/rattle that for
whatever reasons only became audible when C6 was played. The
buzz would be pretty bad for a few days then go away,,, but
after a while it just came to stay. The Steinway rep was
called in and after poking around for a while surmised that
he needed to tighten the bolt that couples that Steinway
"bell" to the plate in the high section. The buzz returned
after a few days, and he came back and tightened this some
more saying he had confered with Hamburg and that this was
ok.

I was asked to come out and have a look see, and the buzz
had returned. It took about 10 minutes to find what I am
sure is the real culprit. The bar that is screwed on between
the tenor/bass strut and the tenor/treble strut. I had a
fellow playing C6 whilst I was looking for the problem and
when I put a little sideways pressure on the end that is
screwed into the tenor/treble strutt, the buzz abruptly
dissapeared. Knocking on this bar on the side yeilds a
rattling / buzz noise  and it is clear this is not dead on
solid at all points to the plate.

I didnt have a big enough screwdriver with me to make sure
the two screws were dead tight so I need to go back and make
sure, but they seemed pretty darn tight. Ergo, something is
not quite perfect about the different surface contacts
between the plate and this bar. I imagine that tighting the
"bell" stressed the plate just a bit and as that bolt is
quite close to the back end of this bar, caused a temporary
fix. I understand the bolt was tightened in the end by 1
full turn.

I would very much appreciate any good advice you have as to
how to deal with this assuming the screws are tight, or
tightening does not improve the situation. Specifically is
it possible/advisable to remove this peice with tension up
and bush  the contacting surfaces ? Or would you recommend
something else.

All advice is very welcome

Thanks muchly!

--
Richard Brekne
RPT, N.P.T.F.
UiB, Bergen, Norway
mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no
http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/ricmain.html




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