Steinway D problem

[Newton Hunt]

Hi John,

Because of its location this is not an easy damper to fix.

Remove the F$2 and G2 dampers you can see what is happening with F2.

First, check that the strings are level at the damper location.  If
not level them but not at the expense of the hammer hitting all three
strings.

Pluck the strings to determine that all three are equally muted.  If
the center string is muted better then the damper wedges are not long
enough and you need to deepen the cut in the center a bit.

If either the left or right strings are better than the wedge is too
fat to allow the other wedge to mute the other outside string.  Remove
the damper and use pliers to massage the felt thinner and try again.

If there is one single length of felt on the block remove 1/3 of the
dampers length in the middle so there are two dampers of equal
length.  You may need to experiment to determine the optimum length
and location of the peices.  Remove the damper and place felts on the
strings and move them about while playing the note.

If a damper touches in the front and not the back certain harmonics
will stand out.  If it touches in the back and not the front a
different set of harmonics will stand out.  Sometimes the thickness of
one side of a dmpaer felt will prevent the otherside from muting
correctly and you will get the harmonics speaking as ablove.

Tapping the damper block front then back and watching the movement of
the block will tell you if the felts are seating equally front and
rear.

Carefully watch that the damper does not move sideways when it comes
up.  You must increase or decrease the dog leg bends near the block to
change the blocks location relative to the strings.

Make certain that nothing is holding the damper up: it does not touch
the top of the key, the lift tray, an adjacent damper lever or center
pin, does not touch the plate fin or the plate brace, the spring is in
place and of the right tension, the pinning is properly free, the wire
dies not bind in the bushing (drop the damper in place but out of the
top flange to see that the wire and the hole align perfectly) and is
free front to back, make certain the wire does not rub the right side
of the bushing overly hard, the wire is clean and polished with no
burrs where it goes through the bushing, that the bushing is sized
properly and is not comtaminated with grease of some such.

Check that the sostenuto tab is not touching the sostenuto bar and is
aligned up and down and front to back with the others in that section.

I am sure I have left out some problem or other but these should keep
you busy for ten or fifteen minutes while I think of more stupid
tricks.

		Newton