Re Damper Weight

[Kenneth Sloane]

                      Subject:                              Time:  3:44 PM
  OFFICE MEMO         Re Damper Weight                      Date:  1/2/96

I made a post last year about damper weight and promised to add some data from
Steinway when they supplied me with it. I am reprinting the original post
followed by the new data.

I think it is generally accepted that the mass and friction of an action are
felt
 by the pianist mostly at the beginning of the key stroke. It is at this point
 that the static friction of the action and the inertia of the at rest
components
 are overcome. After that, the inertia of the moving action parts help to deal
 with "the rest" of the friction, the movement of the damper action, and
getting
 the hammer to the string. I know this is an over-simplification and does not
 account for resistance at let-off, resistance of the repetition lever spring
 (remember, spring resistance is progressive, increasing as you continue to
 tighten the spring), etc. etc.; but I hope it will make sense to some
readers.

An interesting and illuminating trivia point about Steinway's grand damper
 actions is their change from using a spring loaded damper action to a
weighted
 action (I called Steinway to get an exact date on this and will post the info
 when I get it). The spring loaded racks used rather heavy springs all the way
up
 to the treble section. There was an interim period where they used light,
helper
 springs in the first 28 notes of the B's and D's, but now they use the
unsprung,
 Renner damper actions in all their pianos (someone out there correct me if
I'm
 wrong). I was told by Fred Drasche that they made the switch to the weighted
 action because it made the hammer actions feel better. I suppose that the
spring
 loaded racks keep the underlevers against the key and impart the weight of
the
 underlever and tension of the spring more readily to the key. When we rebuild
 the pianos here at Oberlin with the old, sprung racks, we always reduce the
 tension on these springs to almost nil and still get good damping. The
advantage
 of doing this is that the damper action does not get into the "feel" of the
 key.

Ken Sloane, Oberlin Conservatory

New Data:
Prior to 1930, all grand actions used underlever springs from notes 1 thru 54
on models SML, 1-51 on model B, and 1-53 on model D. After 1930 until about
1944, springs were completely discontinued on all styles.

After 1944, light, "helper" springs were used on all B's and D's on notes
1-28; no springs on SML models except for some experimental pianos.

Around 1962, there were various pianos made with different combinations of
leads and springs as experiments continued.

After early 1980's, all springs were eliminated from all models.

Ken Sloane, Oberlin Conservatory