Steinway damper ringing problem

[Mark Cramer]

1.) Take about 14" of 3/4" x 3/4" peice of aluminum square tube and glue
thick under-string felt to one side.

2.) In addition to the damper diagnostics (I learned this from Mr. Bill
also), you now have a 1/2-blow, vertical damper-lift guage (3/4" / 5/8");

insert it between hammers and strings, wedge your voicing block between the
rest-rail and some hammers to secure it, and adjust spoons so dampers barely
wink as the the hammer strikes the guage. Fast and precise!

3.) Wedge the stick between the spring-rail and hammershanks to hold hammers
down while gang-filing (do CAUT's still admit to working on uprights? :>)

4.) Somewhere around 14" (can't recall offhand) is an ideal length for a
mini-straightedge for touch-up key leveling.

5.) Insert a chair glide (made for square tubular chair legs) into one end
to protect your hand, and you can bump keys into square via the key-pin.
Aluminum will not nick the pin.

There's five legitimate uses for a light-weight, simple-to-make tool, and at
one time I thought I'd discovered at least "10," but memory fails me at the
moment.

Anyhow, "make this tool," keep it in your back-up kit and you'll not regret
it. IMHO

Mark Cramer,
Brandon University


6.) Someone's kid insists on pounding fistfuls of treble keys while your
trying to finish your tuning...,  ;>)



Allan,

I think I have seen these sticks in a PTJ article that Bill Spurlock wrote
some years ago about damper diagnostics.

Alan McCoy

-----Original Message-----
From: caut-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces@ptg.org] On Behalf Of Allan
Gilreath
Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2004 5:05 AM
To: 'College and University Technicians'
Subject: RE: Steinway damper ringing problem

I'm sure the honorable gentleman has very dry palms. <grin> This is the area
I like using the "trouble shooting stick" mentioned in an earlier post so
that I don't have to touch the strings any more than necessary.
Not picking on you Ron, they just oxidize quickly enough in our area (and
Wim's) as it is. Besides, I can reach a wider area with my stick or turn it
so that only one string is damped. Sounds like I need to take some pictures.

Allan L. Gilreath, RPT
Allan Gilreath & Associates, Inc.
515 Oothcalooga St., Suite I
Calhoun, GA 30701
agilreath@mindspring.com
Berry College - Rome, GA


-----Original Message-----
From: caut-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces@ptg.org] On Behalf Of Ron
Nossaman
Sent: Tuesday, March 16, 2004 11:12 PM
To: College and University Technicians
Subject: Re: Steinway damper ringing problem


>  Other than that, any other suggestions.
>
>Wim

Yes. Lay hands on the bass strings and see if the noise stops. It's not that
unusual for that high partial ring to be coming from damper leakage

two octaves down.

Ron N

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