Damper Wheeze -Reply

[Mark Story]

Anybody have tricks on getting rid of damper lift noise in the
>trichord wedges. I was called in at a fancy recording studio,
>whose Yamaha C7F
>Disklavier had a

Norm Neblett claims to have made a living replacing dampers in this setting.
His theory is that the problem is with the firm felt the factorys use to avoid
regulation degredation due to compression settling. He just replaces the wedges
with good felt. I don't recall him mentioning replacing wedges with blocks, but
it's a thought. You're bound to give up some dampening efficiency (show me a
Steinway that dampens thouroughly), but in this setting, it might be an
acceptable compromise.

>will show up the "heartbreak of damper emphysema", the piani
I love this. ;)

Since we're talking about dampers, last time he was here, Micha Dichter (sp)
complained that our Symphony Steinway D was bleeding on some strings with
half-pedal (good grief). I checked it with him, and sure enough - though
lifting properly with a visual check the (factory regulated) dampers did bleed
on a few notes. He showed me a great trick to test this. Just half pedal, then
strum the strings and the bleeders will show right up. That, of course, is the
easy part. ;)

Mark Story, RPT

mstory@ewu.edu
Eastern Washington University Music Department
Cheney, Washington, USA