CAUT

  • 1.  string-to-agraffe ticking sound when tuning

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 05-25-2023 21:50

    Greetings,

    We have been struggling with a piano that makes a ticking sound caused by the steel wires rendering poorly through the agraffes (the manufacturer has confirmed this understanding of the issue). The problem first reared its ugly head some years into the life of this piano and continues to get worse. Neither Protek nor Counter Bearing Lube have helped in the slightest. Dealing with this annoyance slows down the tuning process so, not fun.

    Any suggestions how to remedy this problem? I have experienced this on pianos by a variety of makers, but never as prominent and widespread as on the present piano.


    Thanks,

    Alan



    ------------------------------
    Alan Eder, RPT
    Herb Alpert School of Music
    California Institute of the Arts
    Valencia, CA
    661.904.6483
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: string-to-agraffe ticking sound when tuning

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 05-26-2023 07:23
    Alan

    My initial thought is that there is a nick in the wire at the agraff when it moves. Try releasing the tension of one side of the string and take up the slack on the other side.  This moves the nick away from the agraff. 







  • 3.  RE: string-to-agraffe ticking sound when tuning

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 05-26-2023 07:29

    Wim,

    If it were only one string, then maybe a nick in the wire could be the cause. But it seems unlikely that this has happened to every string that passes through an agraffe on pianos suffering from this condition.

    Alan



    ------------------------------
    Alan Eder, RPT
    Herb Alpert School of Music
    California Institute of the Arts
    Valencia, CA
    661.904.6483
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: string-to-agraffe ticking sound when tuning

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 05-26-2023 08:14
    Alan

    I guess I misunderstood. You are right that a nick on all the strings would be an improbability. 

    This might be a long shot, but I wonder if somehow, when they installed the agraffs, that they were not tightened down all the way by perhaps a new and inexperienced factory worker.

    Wim



    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: string-to-agraffe ticking sound when tuning

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 05-26-2023 08:26

    Decades ago, I got ready to string a Stwy O with a bad case of snickers in its 70-y-o plain steel wire, expecting to find nicks in the wire where it passed through the agraffes. I couldn't see any under strong light, nor feel any with a thin screwdriver blade. But there was no snickering with the fresh wire.



    ------------------------------
    William Ballard RPT
    WBPS
    Saxtons River VT
    802-869-9107

    "Our lives contain a thousand springs
    and dies if one be gone
    Strange that a harp of a thousand strings
    should keep in tune so long."
    ...........Dr. Watts, "The Continental Harmony,1774
    +++++++++++++++++++++
    ------------------------------



  • 6.  RE: string-to-agraffe ticking sound when tuning

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 05-26-2023 08:38

    Bill,

    Did the agraffes get replaced on that Stwy O, or just the strings?

    Thanks,

    Alan



    ------------------------------
    Alan Eder, RPT
    Herb Alpert School of Music
    California Institute of the Arts
    Valencia, CA
    661.904.6483
    ------------------------------

    Original Message