Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Tuner-Technicians Forum Really loud overtone ringing on bass notes

I have a piano that is beautiful in many regards (A Yamaha S400B) but for some reason when doing tremolos in the bass(for instance the low C2 and C3, as in the Beethoven Pathetique), I get a ringing high overtone that drives me crazy. When hit loudly as a solo note, no problem on either note!. What can be done about this?

Also, there is one note that seems to sound high overtones, it is the E below middle C. After my tech leveled the strings it was much better, but I still hear these high over tones in that note more than in others. Any ideas why?

I know I am pickier about this piano than my old one. My tech doesn't want to do a full voicing until it has acclimated to my home. I keep the humidity at 42% all year. The piano came from a place where it was higher humidity than that.

Thanks,

Mike

PS - I know all pianos, no matter how great, have at least one funky note, often more. The Steinway D I used to play all the time had some notes in the upper register that were dull, and I have noticed that in the same area in almost every D I have played. However, having an instrument that is beautiful under most circumstances makes me more critical to issues like I am having.

I'd wager the problem will disappear once the tech is comfortable with voicing it.

The bass C's your are noting the "ring" in could well be longitudinal modes, (L-modes) ringing with a transverse mode partial, (harmonic). They only become objectionable with repeated playing because the L-mode acquires a little more energy under these circumstances. Sometimes replacing the strings of troublesome notes will reduce it. BUT, it could make it worse because wound string vary a little bit from each other. Plus you then have a few new strings which go out of tune quicker than the rest for the next year.

On the C's you list most Steinways have a little bit of that L-mode chime. I don't like the sound when the scale is modified to completely eliminate them. But you might. I have heard a chime on those C notes on the two S-400's I service

Fitting hammers on notes with multi-string unisons so that the hammer excites all unison strings in phase will reduce chiming that varies with each blow. Also making sure the hammer center is firm yet free helps. Spongy hammer centers will reduce the ability of the hammers to be stay fit to the unison strings for phase coherence across the dynamic range.

The E below mid-c probably needs to be needled to match the neighbors.

WARNING, This advice is limited by me not hearing the piano in question. But you did ask for it!

New bass strings (Heller bass for me) on Yamahas are often helping.

agreed the S400 are better than the C series, but I doubt the basses are hand wound.

Thank you all! This is great info! I love this piano, and want to work out any bugs!

The mid and upper registers sing like no other piano I know!

Mike

Repeated notes, such as in a tremolo, will occasionally produce a 'ping' when a string is hit by the hammer at a certain point on its vibrational cycle. Particularly in the lower half of the piano. I suspect this because of the way you describe it.

Try practicing the tremolo in different ways so that it doesn't do that. Even if you don't succeed, you'll be a better pianist from the experience of trying. If it is the hammer hitting the string in that way, a fine pianist can deal with that easily as part of their technique.

Yup, that's what I've been doing. My piano tech, one of the two best in the Twin Cities, says it is not a flaw but a characteristic of this piano and it can be made better in time, but he also said I should try playing in ways to avoid the ringing. It's not that hard.

Owning a new piano, especially one as nice as this is quite a challenge. My old piano had tons of funky notes and I just got used to it. The new one is so much nicer that odd things stick out more. He said it'll take us a year to get it where I want it because he is very conservative about voicing, and it went from a place of rather high humidity to my place which is kept at 42% all year. I passed up a Steinway B in mediocre condition and a 9' Bechstein with some nasty upper register problems for this Yamaha S400B. It's a lovely instrument, we just need to get used to each other!

It's like owning an 800 pound baby! :-)

Mike

It is very possible that you hear longitudinal waves or any kind of frequency created by the strings not moving in their optimal vibrating plane.

That may also have to do with the level of saturation (in fact this "shows" the level of saturation.)

SO possibly first grade bass strings could do better.

Impossible to say beforehand, but I know friends that rent pianos for concert and the change the bass strings on their C6 C7 after some years with good results.

K. Fenner when looking for a reason why treble strings climb on the pins when the pianos are played, thought that may be interactions created by the partials (in the same note) could create sufficient beating and waving between the pins to induce some motion that would raise the strings (because the pins would be induced into resonance)

Some say it is only due to the wood expansion and compression with seasons, but it is a rebuilder point of view, and does not correspond to then findings on concert pianos..

I said that because a certain amount of energy spread exists between the pins, certainly. The pins themselves are long enough to be vibrating on their own frequencies, to (pin + bridge elasticity may correspond to some frequency, seem to me )

The resonance frequency of the exposed bridge pin would be well above human hearing. The damping from the wood is so strong that no movement of the pin along it's length is possible unless the bridge pin is loose in the pin-hole. Because of the stiffness of piano wire the string can lever its way up the bridge pin slightly when played strongly. That is why I prefer copper plated bridge pins. The copper is soft enough to be dented by the string and thus held in place better by the little dent the wire creates. It also helps damp L-mode a little more.

So, I have another question for you guys. Because this piano is new to me and has barely been played (also, all original parts, no rebuilding needed, and it was maintained in a good climate controlled environment). Could some of these ringing tones change over time? Will it be different after being played, a lot, over the next year or two? The previous owner was at one time a fine pianist, but became ill and could no longer play. He kept the instrument in remarkable condition, inside and out, but played it very little before getting ill, so, for all intents and purposes it is almost a new piano even though about 12 years old.

I am getting used to how this piano works and as I have said above, it has an amazing mid and high register, just beautiful. The bottom is VERY powerful and sounds fantastic under most playing circumstances. It is only when I play a tremolo or fast repetitions on C2. Might this change over the years? I don't want to replace a string unless it is the last resort just because of dealing with a constantly stretching string for a year!

Also, I have talked to many other pianists and technicians and they have told me this is pretty common, regardless of the piano manufacturer. They don't consider it a "problem," but rather a characteristic. Is it common? I know I have encountered it on a Steinway B, D, and Bosendorfer Imperial.

Thanks again,

Mike

when the soundboard have received enough energy it begin to wave so much the hammer hit strings while they are moving a lot, so maintaining a clear tonaldefinition while playing tremolo in basses is not so easy.

A string can also hit the hammer while it was just falling of , and that create partials . What kind of pitch do you hear, relating with the fundamental ?

Above a certain amount of power the bridge motion create a pure frequency that is 4th times the fundamental, too .

Taller bridges do that more easily so this is present in basses.

Possibly allowing for an unexpected change of tone when playing strong. this may possibly lower a little the saturation level, by adding a new pure frequency to the string (?)

Not having heard the particular notes on your piano-it is impossible to know whether you are very sensitive to that sound or it is genuinely obvious. Of course to you it is "genuinely" obvious. Sometimes tuning the unison until this ringing is a little less can be done in the bass bi-chord.

I've experienced this as well, on some of my pianos. I had a 46" Petrof upright that had one bass note (bichord) that rang pretty badly at times. Precision tuning of the bichords would help, as well as needling the hammer ever so slightly. However, the ringing overtone was never completely resolved... just improved.

I figure new bass strings may have solved the problem, but I sold the piano before I could experiment on it further. It didn't seem to bother the buyer, or they didn't notice the ringing.

Pianos can definitely be finicky.

Rick

I also have seen techs not noticing defects in new wound strings.

It is difficult to make a good set of bass strings.

After, and only after all standard tone regulation has been done, an experienced tech familiar with the careful handling of strings and the reasons why strings should be handled that way will know how to break the rules and easily remove those unwanted harmonics from the more lively string with no tools while keeping the string looking like the rest of them.

Isn't the e below middle c is a plain steel trichord on that model? Bass string techniques won't apply.

Over time, strings develop a patina from the atmosphere. This happens much more slowly now than it did in the days of rooms filled with smoke from tobacco and open fireplaces but this covering would tame all the strings, including the livelier ones to a certain extent.

RXD,
What a tease you are! You will have to divulge this technique or I am sending Dick Cheney over to "enhance" my interrogative skills.

Sorry t be so cryptic. It's something that can be done after everything else has been done but before changing strings Is considered. This being a public forum, there are some factory techniques that can easily be misunderstood and used indiscriminately. Those that know enough to get it will also know enough to use it discriminately.

I put it In a way that an experienced tech such as yourself will get it. Look at the clues again, think about it and then sleep on it if necessary. It's simpler than you think.

RXD,
Dick Cheney will soon be at your door! Enjoy!!

Gesualdo,

I have a piano(a fairly decent quality grand), that has a couple very low bass notes that do the same thing. But somehow, I just decided to accept it, and enjoy this piano's uniqueness. It's really oNLY a problem if I focus on those two bass notes and let it drive me out of my mind. The fact is, in the course of playing the piano normally, one would never ever hear anything out of the ordinary.

Another one to add to this thread:

My friend has a 6ft Heintzmann grand (Canadian) made in 1976, when she bought it. It is a nice piano. Her new tuner likes the instrument, and finds it still of good value despite its age. It has never been heavily used.

It was well maintained, kept its tune, and was easily tuned in the past, but had not been tuned for several years because the tuner had retired. Recently, the piano went noticeably out of tune, and a number of keys were sticking randomly on it.

The new tuner, well recommended, came, and suggested that the humidity was too high in the room where it is kept, in the 70s, causing the problems. He tuned the piano successfully. My friend believes the tuner also did some voicing on hammers, needling them, when he tuned. He suggested coming back when the humidity was corrected if required.

Friend's husband purchased a room dehumidifier, which has been taking large amounts of water out until just a few days ago, and the humidity has reduced into the 40s for the last several weeks. The key sticking pretty well vanished by the end of that time.

The piano has been kept in the same room for many years. There have been renovations in the house, but none would obviously impact the humidity levels to the best of our knowledge.

However, since the latest tuning, a new problem has occurred, which never existed before in the life of this piano. When you play the F1, a slightly flat C#5 rings out most distinctly and annoyingly. No other notes ring similarly so far as we can see.

The tuner returned, and said it is an overtone of the bass string ringing out, which has nothing to do with the higher note. He tried "detuning" the F1, both slightly flat and sharp, with little success in reducing the ringing.

I have sent her a link to this thread, and another one about agraffes in this instrument.

Any further ideas?