Pianotech

Serviced a Steinway D today. Customer complained about a noise coming from C5. I didn't hear it at first (piano was out of tune), but after isolating the individual unisons, quite plainly, the middle string had quite a zing to it. Sounded much like the zings one commonly hears from the front-scale in the capo sections of some pianos. I found that if I applied pressure with a screw driver to the middle string just on the forward side of the agraffe, the zing would disappear.

Seems to me the source of the zing is the agraffe. I've simply not ever heard a zing like this apparently coming from an agraffe, and hence this post. I have heard of agraffes causing some noises, but had not really ever run across it myself. So, I'm asking - do agraffes sometimes make zinging noises? If so, I presume the fix is to replace agraffe or grind out any groove in the agraffe hole and polish it - correct? Is there any more simple fix by chance?

Oh, and BTW S&S D was in a 10' x 12' apartment bedroom. See attached picture. I'd like to see the shoe-horn used to get it in there......

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Terry Farrell
Farrell Piano Service, Inc.
Brandon, Florida
terry@farrellpiano.com
813-684-3505
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This era of S&S had phosphor bronze alloy agraffes which is much stronger than the typical brass used. Unfortunately the string holes are not properly shaped. This era S&S D's also usually has too little upbearing behind the agraffes, especially at the topmost agraffes. All this contributes to creating buzzes.

String holes of all agraffes I have ever seen are not ideal. They need to have the holes chamfered so the actual string termination length is 1mm. The softer brass alloys are more forgiving because the string can deform them more and this usually keeps them from making overt buzzes. 

So when I rebuild, I remedy all these shortcomings. In the field I have found success with using a screwdriver to gently push the offending string side to side from both the hammer and tuning pin side of the agraffe. Sometimes I have had to repeat this motion 50 times before it finally solved the issue. No guarantee for this adjustment though.

Good Luck!

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Edward McMorrow
Edmonds WA
425-299-3431
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Original Message:
Sent: 10-24-2018 17:06
From: Terrence Farrell
Subject: Zinging Agraffe?

Serviced a Steinway D today. Customer complained about a noise coming from C5. I didn't hear it at first (piano was out of tune), but after isolating the individual unisons, quite plainly, the middle string had quite a zing to it. Sounded much like the zings one commonly hears from the front-scale in the capo sections of some pianos. I found that if I applied pressure with a screw driver to the middle string just on the forward side of the agraffe, the zing would disappear.

Seems to me the source of the zing is the agraffe. I've simply not ever heard a zing like this apparently coming from an agraffe, and hence this post. I have heard of agraffes causing some noises, but had not really ever run across it myself. So, I'm asking - do agraffes sometimes make zinging noises? If so, I presume the fix is to replace agraffe or grind out any groove in the agraffe hole and polish it - correct? Is there any more simple fix by chance?

Oh, and BTW S&S D was in a 10' x 12' apartment bedroom. See attached picture. I'd like to see the shoe-horn used to get it in there......

------------------------------
Terry Farrell
Farrell Piano Service, Inc.
Brandon, Florida
terry@farrellpiano.com
813-684-3505
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