bass hammers sound "tubby" when played

[D.L. Bullock]

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The tubby sound is not likely the hammers.  They have been on there long
enough to be hard from oxidizing wool if not use.  The tubby you hear is
several things that happen in almost all older uprights.  I should know --we
restore the "tub" right out of these same pianos.

First, the bass bridge has two or three glue joints that are loose.  If you
play notes going down the scale and you notice a decrease in volume when you
change from the lowest tenor note on the long bridge to the topmost wound
string on the bass bridge, it indicates that the bass bridge is loose from
the apron or the apron is loose from the soundboard.  The repair is to
remove strings at the hitch pin end and clean off the old glue, reglue and
screw it back together at each glue joint.

Bass strings may be dead. If you notice they do not ring but a few seconds
the copper patina has filled the interior vacancies as the copper winds
around the steel core and the strings are far too stiff to vibrate well.  If
you take a really dead bass string loose and hold it at about a 45 degree
angle to the ground you will notice it goes straight up and is stiff as a
yardstick.  A new string or one that is not dead held the same way will arc
towards the ground from the weight of the string itself.  This can be
improved by tying a loop in the wound part of the string, making a loop
about 3-4 inches diameter, then pull the loop from end to end of the
windings several times with the end of your tuning hammer or a screwdriver.
Make sure you do not pull the loop off the end of the windings on to the
single core wire or the center core wire will bend sharply and often break.
How do you think I know that?

Also if the piano has lost enough crown it will also ring a short time and
sound tubby.  The sound I notice makes the lowest tenor notes on the long
bridge especially sound more like banging on metal sewer pipes than strings.
This indicates to me that the board needs to be recrowned which is what we
do with every piano we restore.

D.L. Bullock    St. Louis
www.thepianoworld.com
Piano World

 2732 Cherokee

Saint Louis MO 63118

314-772-6676

  -----Original Message-----
  From: Alpha88x@aol.com [mailto:Alpha88x@aol.com]
  Sent: Friday, April 23, 2004 2:06 PM
  To: pianotech@ptg.org
  Subject: bass hammers sound "tubby" when played


  greetings,

              When the bass hammers of a particular turn of the century
upright are played they sound "tubby", a very "round" dull sound. Would
these hammers be a candidate for hardening solution or is it the strings'
quality? I think it is the hammers because the bass hammers have hardly any
grooves and show little wear.
  Suggestions?

  Julia Gottchall,
  Reading, PA

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