ringing sound

harry · Post by **harry** » 22 Sep 2003, 09:13

I bought a piano around a month ago. I found it has a ringing sound lasting for 7-9 seconds after playing. A technician checked the piano. He believed all the dampers are seated properly. In his opinion the ringing sound is caused by the soundboard of the piano. He said the soundboard is very active and reverberate a bit too much. So the dampers can not control the string vibration in bass section completely.

Can you please give some comments on this? Any other reason may cause this problem? Is there any suggestion on how to fixing the problem? Thanks a lot.

Post by **Barrie Heaton** » 22 Sep 2003, 09:32

Have the dampers been changed
Is the ringing in the high end eg a harmonic ring
is the piano a grand or upright
if upright overstrung or straight strung
Over damper or under damper

Barrie,

harry · Post by **harry** » 22 Sep 2003, 10:25

Barrie

Thank you very much for you quick response/

>>Have the dampers been changed

not yet. the technician mentioned the possibility of changing some dampers to heavier ones. But he is not quite sure. he said he need some opinions from the manufacturer and his friend. It seems he has not got what he wanted yet.
Do you think that is something worth to try?

>>Is the ringing in the high end eg a harmonic ring

It sounds like a harmonic ring. Can you give an idea how to make sure of that?

>>is the piano a grand or upright

upright

>>if upright overstrung or straight strung

overstrung

>>Over damper or under damper

I think it is under damper. I will check.

harry · Post by **harry** » 22 Sep 2003, 13:47

Yes, it is under damper.

The ringing is only from those strings higher than the key played. But it is not only from treble strings. It varies with the key just played.

Post by **Barrie Heaton** » 22 Sep 2003, 19:14

OK go and wash your hands open the top door and play some bass notes then touch the bass string at the bottom bass move along until you kill the ringing you may have to have a few attempts if that shuts up the ringing then we need to determine what type of damper problem you have so take note of what is happening and test all dampers in the bass.

Then what I need you to do is push on one of the bottom bass strings with one finger do not play the note you are pushing away form the damper now the
damper should stay in contact with the string as you push it away - if the damper is just seated on the string then you will get ring on the damper should
be pushing on the string when at rest the above test tells you if there is pressure on the string if the damper stays put when you push the string then they need re regulating

the second most common one is off set dampers this is in the by-cords the damper damps one string well but is not damping the other one the test you did first

The hardiest to solve is the third one this some times is a factory problem or if the dampers have been changed What happens is that the damper is working well but it is in the wrong place and is emphasising one of the harmonics and making it ring the other two problem can be solved by re regulating the dampers this one your need to reposition the damper heads or replace with longer dampers

Is the piano new BTW and what make is it

Barrie,