Can upright piano High Notes be made more musical?

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Jonathan the 2nd
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Can upright piano High Notes be made more musical?

Post by Jonathan the 2nd »

I have an upright Hohner in clean condition but the high notes are a very drab feature . Ever since I heard an old purple coloured upright Bluthner with high notes to inspire you , I have always been dissatisfied. What can be done to improve the cold , plinky noise they make? I was naive and surprised at how very short the high strings were when I had a close look . I remember a tuner on a forum who said Aliquot strings were a waste of time and never bothered to tune them . Goodness gracious .
What do technicians do with those upright high strings ? I have not dared to touch them myself.
It became a feature of the piano tuner`s visits that I would be put on the spot and told off for any improvisations. That was when I had a number of notes that developed an unpleasant high pitched whine. I had put small ,damping foam pieces against the offending strings .
Barrie Heaton
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Re: Can upright piano High Notes be made more musical?

Post by Barrie Heaton »

you can dope the top hammers to make them sound brighter. However, they may just need refacing

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Jonathan the 2nd
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Re: Can upright piano High Notes be made more musical?

Post by Jonathan the 2nd »

In fact the whine sound on those strings was caused by the hammers contacting separate strings a fraction early or later than their neighbours . I cured it myself by holding the hammer against the string and drawing a slip of sandpaper over the felt hammer. it was a quick way to cure it .
Normally I am very cautious about interfering inside the piano unless I have read a lot about the subject bothering me .
Barrie Heaton
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Re: Can upright piano High Notes be made more musical?

Post by Barrie Heaton »

Jonathan the 2nd wrote:In fact the whine sound on those strings was caused by the hammers contacting separate strings a fraction early or later than their neighbours . I cured it myself by holding the hammer against the string and drawing a slip of sandpaper over the felt hammer. it was a quick way to cure it .
Normally I am very cautious about interfering inside the piano unless I have read a lot about the subject bothering me .

That is one way of doing it, the correct way is to level the string providing the hammer is square to the strings in the first place.

For those who are going to read this and attempt Jonathans workaround please use a very fine wet and dry sandpaper at lease 600 grit

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