[pianotech] Noise in Bass Strings

[Terry Farrell]

I have a customer with a 10 year old Walter console. Nice piano, except the upper-most two bass notes (D#3 & E3) - they have a noise that I can best describe as a developing slow roll of a beat that doesn't develop into an actual beat. 

Here is an audio clip of those notes and nearby notes:   
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It's not a really strong sound, but easily more than enough for anyone with any sort of decent ears to be offended by (which means most people would never hear it - but I sure do and the owner hears it also).

Also, the upper termination of the copper winding on the upper-most four bass strings is of that crunched-up looking style (sorry, don't know the term for it) and all the other bass strings have a simple clean end to the winding. Additionally, the windings are not of equal length on the upper-most two notes. See the picture below:

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I'm certainly not sure exactly what the cause of the noise is, but I'm guessing that replacing the four upper-most bass strings is the easiest, least costly and most likely way to solve the problem. I will also be contacting the Walter Piano Company for their advice tomorrow.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

Terry Farrell