string "noises"

[Allen Wright]

Has anyone working on Hamburg Steinway B's (or similar instruments)  
encountered shimmery high partial noises (quite noticeable) at the  
level of 4 octaves up (perhaps at the major seventh pitch or  
thereabouts), in the area around E3 in the plain wire tenors? Perhaps  
half dozen notes stand out like this. I notice that the sound greatly  
diminishes when I detune the notes by a semitone or so...is this the  
longitudinal mode behaviour I've read about in previous threads?

And if so, are there specific recommendations for changing wire gauge  
there in order to eliminate or improve this problem? I'd love to try  
something like that - this is a piano belonging to a customer who's  
really bothered by the sound. Personally, if it were my piano I think  
I'd ignore it and probably not be bothered by it much in a musical  
context; but you all know how these things go - that sort of  
suggestion often doesn't fly with the concerned customer.

Any opinions/suggestions will be most welcome. I've been able to  
otherwise even out the voicing nicely, with some lacquer in the bass  
and judicious shaping and needling elsewhere, which leads me to be  
optimistic that if I can minimize this "feature" the customer may  
ultimately be quite happy with the piano again. The piano is in the  
shop, which means I can go at it methodically and even experimentally.

Sincerely,

Allen Wright, RPT
London, UK






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