CAUT

  • 1.  Extreme pitch drop

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 04-04-2017 10:51

    Hello all,
    I've just encountered a somewhat bizarre situation here at CSU, where we have a 1934 5'7" Conover grand, rebuilt in 1989, and  acquired in 2012. It has been fine until this week, when I went to tune it and found the treble from D5 to the top about 30-50 cents flat. It just seemed to drop off a cliff after going to the treble side of the strut at D5. I tightened all accessible bolts/screws, and noticed that 2 of the perimeter bolts were stripped- they just turned. These bolts were in the treble/flugel area.  It was last tuned in October 2016, The weather has just started to get warmer here(mid 50's), and most everything here is 10-15 cents flat in the low tenor. Nothing out of the ordinary. But this is strange. the piano has never exhibited this kind of anomaly before.
    What to do? Am I correct in  assuming that I can shim the 2 stripped bolts so they bear on the plate? Yes? No?
    What else might cause this?

    Much thanks

    Steve Kabat
    Cleveland State University



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    Stephen Kabat
    Lyndhurst OH
    216-381-5662
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  • 2.  RE: Extreme pitch drop

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 04-04-2017 10:56
    Sounds to me like a cracked plate.  Are the notes that dropped fairly consistent?  I've only encountered this a few times but it sounds like what I remember.  

    Chris

    Christopher Purdy, RPT
    Piano Technician
    MTSU School of Music
    An All Steinway School
    Murfreesboro, TN  37132
    office: 615-898-5893
    cell: 740-590-3842





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  • 3.  RE: Extreme pitch drop

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 04-04-2017 10:58
    I don't see why the usual stripped screw repairs wouldn't work with a plate screw. It seems odd, but maybe not impossible, that a couple perimeter screws would suddenly become stripped - that usually happens while somebody is (over)tightening them - and so you'd think that condition would have been present for quite a while. Unless a rim separation occurred, in which case shimming might exacerbate the problem.

    I'd also look carefully for any hairline crack in the plate.
    Regards,
    Fred Sturm
    "We either make ourselves happy or miserable. The amount of work is the same." - Carlos Casteneda




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