[CAUT] Steinway dampers: The aftermath

[Donald McKechnie]

Stan,

Do the damper underlevers have springs? Here at IC we have 6 piano  
faculty studios. In each studio there is a 1960's B  and an 11 year  
old B. Each of the older B's have been restrung and new damper felts  
installed over the years of my tenure. A while back one of the  
professors asked me to get the 11 year old B to damp as well as the  
older B in her studio. I did my best using all the tricks I know  
including those learned at the Steinway factory seminar. There was an  
improvement but it will not be the same as the old B. The 1960's B's  
have underlever damper springs and the newer B's do not.

It occurred to me to try adding underlever springs to the newer B but  
I did not want to take on the touchweight issues that certainly would  
need to be addressed. The professor seemed satisfied but I am not. I  
checked the other studios and in all cases the older B's damp better  
than the newer. The older B's have a slightly heavier touchweight  
(with the action in the piano) as a result of the damper springs. Any  
thoughts out there on my problem and how my findings might apply to  
Stan's problem?

Regards,
Don


> From: Stan Kroeker <smkroeker at shaw.ca>
> Date: November 24, 2009 5:03:54 PM EST
> To: College and University Technicians <caut at ptg.org>
> Subject: [CAUT] Steinway dampers: The aftermath
> Reply-To: caut at ptg.org
>
>
> Friends,
>
> Have just returned from my client's studio ... the 'B' with the  
> oinking/buzzing dampers. Thanks to your sage advice, the buzzing of  
> damper wires against strings (in the bichord section) was an easy  
> fix.  Adjusted the 'pressure bends' to create some side-bearing  
> against the guiderail bushings.  The challenge here, due to 'less- 
> than-stellar' drilling of the guiderails (uneven spacing), was that  
> some had to bear against one side of the bushings, some the other  
> in order to have them rise vertically and as close as possible to  
> the center point between adjacent strings.
>
> Decisive damping was quite another issue and perhaps I might open  
> up another thread for discussion here:  In spite of precise  
> alignment (side-to-side, fore-and-aft, vertical), almost all the  
> bichords and the lowest 4 tenor trichords still ring on for the  
> 'split-second-too-long' that draws your attention.  I have fussed  
> with the alignment, string spacing (on the trichords), string  
> level, damper wedge profile (squeezing to create a sharper wedge)  
> to the point of diminishing returns.  I have listened to other  
> similar pianos, some of which display the same imprecise damping in  
> this area ... some less so.  Have I missed something?
>
> This piano is a mid-70s 'B' (teflon) which has recently been  
> retrofitted with OEM Steinway parts, including damper action.  The  
> latter is clearly not identical to the original (although the  
> spacing and alignment worked out very well) and I didn't think to  
> compare the 'downweight' of the new levers to the originals.  On  
> some of the offending dampers, a little more weight (applied gently  
> by finger) reduced the 'oink' ... but not all.
>
> Similar to ongoing discussion of the many choices available in  
> aftermarket hammers, would you mind sharing your preferences for  
> currently available damper felt?
>
> Regards,
>
> Stan Kroeker, RPT



Don McKechnie
Piano Technician
Ithaca College
dmckech at ithaca.edu
607.274.3908





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