Piano String?

[kyrstenbarker]

I inherited a piano that is about 40 years old. It has always played fine but i sat down to play today and noticed my Bb wasnt playing and my B was playing double.
I looked inside and the Bb sting is crooked. Im not sure what is wrong with it since its a stand piano and i cant see all the way inside of it. Any suggestions? Do i get it replaced?

Like i said, all the keys were fine before today but a couple of days ago i had a little cousin over who insisted on banging on it if thatt could have contributed somehow to an off-set string or something.

[allthumbs]

It sounds like a string may have broken or some other problem. In any case, you will have to have a technician/tuner come in and have a look.

[mezzo piano]

Maybe the bridge? A 40 year old piano is going to have lots of issues unless it has been maintained. You will know what the problem is when the tech gets there; don't try to fix this yourself.

[rick langmaack]

If your B note is playing double, that's probably not a string problem, it sounds like the hammer might be bobbling or double striking the string. As far as the Bb note goes, could be something wrong with the bridge. Which Bb note is it? (count all Bb notes from the bottom of the keys and note which one it is). When you look inside if a string is missing you should see an out of place spacing between the strings. You could open up the knee board (front panel near your knees when you are playing) and look for the string. Kneel down near the footpedals and look up to find a spring or some kind of locking device (probably a spring). Push the spring up and slide out knee board.  If there is a broken string it will more than likely be somewhere in the piano.
https://www.pianoscomplete.com/ricks-piano-tuning.html