I got to be a junior grade hero the other day. The piano is a poor old funky Acrosonic, and the daughter was being driven crazy by the last note on the low tenor. It's a wrapped string, but the first half dozen notes of the low tenor are on a cantilever. That last unison BONGED terribly. I told her there likely wasn't much I could do with it, but I'd give it a look and see. After the tuning, I experimentally clamped my little Vise-Grip on one of the bridge pins of that last unison and the bong disappeared. The bass/tenor transition was even relatively tolerable. I called in the daughter and had her play across the break, then removed the Vise-Grip and had her try again. She was really impressed, so we called Mom at work and got executive authorization for a fix of sorts. For the last couple of years, I've carried about a 70g brass weight with a screw soldered into it. I use it for the occasional diagnostic test in killer octaves and low tenors. I installed it on the bridge top, since the cantilever posed some problems to back side installation, floating it clear of the bridge pins so it wouldn't buzz. It looks pretty goofy, but it's behind the knee board where it won't typically be seen, and the difference it made in sound was dramatic. It's still a funky old Acrosonic, but now it's more uniformly funky and a lot easier to listen to. Now I have to make another weight. Ron N
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