What causes the "buzzing" sounds in the winter?

[atticus]

Hi all,

I've noticed that when I depress certain keys on my piano this winter there is a buzzing sound.  Is this something a tuning would fix?

Thanks!
atticus

[pianodoc]

I'm assuming that you are in a climate that needs indoor heat in the winter...

When the heat comes on, the indoor humidity drops.  Any crushing of wood fibers that has happened during the wet months to the soundboard/ribs will now open up, sometimes forming cracks.  As the wood separates, the sides of the cracks can start to buzz against each other.

Of course, if you've got a grand, it could just be a paper clip or something on the soundboard!!!

Tuning alone usually won't solve this problem, but your tech should be able to hunt down the source of the buzz.

[pianochick93]

Ahhh, so that's why my piano sometimes buzzes when I play a C4. I thought it was the fact that the sound made the photo frame on the piano vibrate.

[Bob]

I've heard overhead light buzzing away, resonating with the piano.  Window frames, door frames....

[allthumbs]

Also check the strings for anything touching them. I heard about someone playing a joke on a serious pianist by slipping a paper clip around a string or two that drove him nuts untill he discovered the 'problem'.


allthumbs

[tosca1]

"Buzzing" sounds are quite common in pianos and the most obvious source of the problem is something vibrating sympathetically with the note either on or within the piano or in the room.  If this problem is seasonal and noticeable only in winter then it is probably caused by some micro change in the soundboard or bridge.
Of course there are many different kinds of "buzzing" sound and a skilled technician would be able to source its origin.
It can be caused by poor seating of the strings at the termination points or maybe the strings are not quite level at the striking point. Even a false beat in the front or rear duplex of a grand piano can cause a note to buzz.
 
This problem can usually be easily corrected by a professional technician unless the "buzzing" is symptomatic of a serious failure of the bridge or soundboard.


Good luck!

Robert.

[espositoj]

I have an 1888 Chickering grand that has had some rebuilding done back in the 1980's. I've owned the piano for about 8 years (winters) now with few mechanical incidents,  but for the past 6 weeks or so I have been at wits end to determine what I will describe as a low "hissing", not buzzing,  sound noticable when a note is struck.  It is basically confined to the middle range of the piano, about a two octave span.  I've had two experience technicians inspect the problem and they have not been able to determine the cause.  It's not the damper felts, hammer felts, cracked soundboard, loose rib, sympathetic vibrations, loose keyboard cover or any hardward part, piano action, etc.  I've inspected the soundboard for any articles or debris and have found nothing! I would sincerely appreciate any thoughts or observations to help identify what is causing this, because there's truly little enjoyment playing the piano under these conditions!  My sense is that perhaps winter's low humidity (I live in Vermont) is somehow involved here, but I'm not sure exactly in what way it would factor into creating this hissing sound.

[indianajo]

Mechanics usually isolate noises by putting a mechanic's stethoscope in their ear and waving the probe around the device until they locate the noise.  Did the tuner use a stethoscope while he was searching for the noise?  Probably not, or he would have located it. Perhaps he needs further training.  
With a piano, this will require two people, as one person has to operate the keys of the affected notes while the other has his head around the mechanical parts of the piano.  
Lacking a stethoscope, any person can use a bit of windshield wiper or fish air tubing stuck in their ear, although the bell on the end of the stethoscope improves gain somwhat.  The import tool stores sell cheap stethoscopes, which if they don't fall apart, should perform adequately.  The poor quality of ******* metal sold at import tool stores shouldn't affect a stethoscope.  
I find heating my house with unvented gas heat improves the performance of my piano in the winter.  Don't try this if you have modern windows and vapor barrier insulation on your house. I have wood and storm windows, and blown newspaper insulation under lapped siding, and my house breathes more than a modern house.  It was difficult to buy unvented gas heaters for decades due to their use by the ignorant to kill themselves, but they are back for "sheds and garages".  Smells less than kerosene heaters and much cheaper to operate than anything else.    Don't operate any heater with other than a blue flame.  I've got a steel barrier screwed to the wall behind the heater and extending on the ceiling out over the heater.  I use fans to blow heat around the house and find one in the living room and one burner on the range can keep the house between 60 deg (LR) and 55 (den).  Use gas in moderation, too much heat is bad for pianos, the lungs, and global warming.   
Lacking unvented gas heat, you may try a humidifier for your house, not the piano. I had a humidifier device installed in a piano and it didn't solve any problems.  

[iansinclair]

Eek!  If you are using unvented combustion appliances -- gas heaters, gas stoves, kerosene heaters, whatever -- in your house, please do yourself a favour and have working carbon monoxide detectors installed, at least in the bedrooms.  They're inexpensive, and they can and do save lives.  If only your canary...

[hfmadopter]

  They're inexpensive, and they can and do save lives.  If only your canary...

Damn, not the canary !

[hfmadopter]

 
Lacking unvented gas heat, you may try a humidifier for your house, not the piano. I had a humidifier device installed in a piano and it didn't solve any problems.  

I'm more inclined to think, shoot for the humidity level anyway. If the room the piano is in is different than about 44-50%, the humidity is off. I fail to see how vented vs non vented heat is going to affect that. Humidify in the winter, air condition and or dehumidify in the summer if in a summer time huimid clmate ( some folks live in a desert situation that's a different matter). The piano can stand temperature swings way larger than large swings in humidy . No doubt heat is a cause of lowering humidity in a house but in the winter cold when relative humidity outside is 10% or less and dew points even lower, the heat source is just taking something next to non existent and making it even closer to non existant. Changing heat sources between vented and non vented is not a lot different from thinking the Titantic would have been saved by rearranging the deck chairs.

[lloyd_cdb]

but for the past 6 weeks or so I have been at wits end to determine what I will describe as a low "hissing", not buzzing,  sound noticable when a note is struck.  It is basically confined to the middle range of the piano, about a two octave span.

I had an issue like this as well. Every time I would hit a key around F4 +/- 2 keys I would hear a similarly described sound. I tried for ages trying to figure out what it was. Tried seeing if it was temperature related, seasonal etc. Couldn't find any rhyme or reason to it. As it turned out, the sound was not even coming from the piano. When my piano light bulb was getting close to burning out the filament would start to rattle when I struck those keys. Go figure. Point being, it's entirely possible you're overlooking something. Just because it's a sound doesn't mean it's actually coming from the piano.

[hfmadopter]

I have an 1888 Chickering grand that has had some rebuilding done back in the 1980's. I've owned the piano for about 8 years (winters) now with few mechanical incidents,  but for the past 6 weeks or so I have been at wits end to determine what I will describe as a low "hissing", not buzzing,  sound noticable when a note is struck.  It is basically confined to the middle range of the piano, about a two octave span.  I've had two experience technicians inspect the problem and they have not been able to determine the cause.  It's not the damper felts, hammer felts, cracked soundboard, loose rib, sympathetic vibrations, loose keyboard cover or any hardward part, piano action, etc.  I've inspected the soundboard for any articles or debris and have found nothing! I would sincerely appreciate any thoughts or observations to help identify what is causing this, because there's truly little enjoyment playing the piano under these conditions!  My sense is that perhaps winter's low humidity (I live in Vermont) is somehow involved here, but I'm not sure exactly in what way it would factor into creating this hissing sound.

Definately pay attention to items in the room as well as the piano. I have an odd noise that I get in my grand in the unison of middle C. I can not find the noise, I think it may be outside the piano. I know for instance, we have an oil lamp in the room for power outages ( we have a generator but the livingroom lights are not on it) that the glass makes a ringing sound on certain pieces I play. Anyway, I tune a single string by instrument on middle C  and form the unison by ear. Then I play the piano, if I get this sound I'm speaking of, I have to retune that note. As the tuning decays from peak, the sound may or may not return. The biggest thing is in this case yes it can be tuned out ! Not saying your sound can though.