New Steinway D problem

[David M. Porritt]

Richard:

I had this on a "B" here at SMU.  I removed the bar (Steinway says
that's ok unless there's so much tension on it that it is difficult
to remove) and put a little stringing braid over the contact points.
That was 15 years ago and it hasn't buzzed since.  I suspect yours is
not so tight as to be difficult to remove, or it wouldn't buzz!  

dave

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 9/3/02 at 3:55 PM Richard Brekne wrote:

>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


_____________________________
David M. Porritt
dporritt@mail.smu.edu
Meadows School of the Arts
Southern Methodist University
Dallas, TX 75275
_____________________________