Hamburg Steinway "D" bass (wound string) Buzz

Ron Nossaman rnossaman@cox.net
Sun, 23 May 2004 13:06:19 -0500


>I am the servicing piano technician for a Hamburg Steinway (D) 9 foot 
>grand. According to the serial (450690)number it seems to be a 1977.

Replaced strings that still buzz ought to indicate that it's not the 
strings buzzing. These things are easiest to fix if you can first determine 
the cause before fixing everything it wasn't. Triage first before you 
operate. Start with the easy stuff on top. Hover over the piano as best you 
can and listen while someone else pounds on a key that produces a good 
juicy buzz. Grab everything - everything in the vicinity of where the sound 
seems to be coming from, and see if it stops. If it stops, you have your 
hand on the culprit. Look under the plate with an inspection mirror. Feel 
around under there with a soundboard steel. If that fails to produce 
anything, and the sound seems to be coming from inside the piano rather 
than hinge pins or the lid lock, crawl underneath and again, grab 
everything under there in the vicinity of where the sound seems to be 
coming from. Eliminate what it's not, and concentrate on what's left until 
it shows up. Don't assume exotic or low incidence causes until you've 
exhausted the easy simple things. Odds are, it will be something simple and 
obvious when you finally find it, so look at the simple and obvious stuff 
first.

Ron N


This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC