Steinway Upright Dampers

[John Musselwhite]

>The kind of damping problem you are experiencing may not be related to the
>dampers themselves. There are a number of piano designs, large uprights and
>squares, that seem to promote poor damping due to the soundboard not the
>strings. In these the sound will continue even if all the strings are muted.

I've always wondered if the preference in the latter part of the last
century and the early part of this one was for a slightly "wetter" sound,
including not installing as many treble dampers. Many of the pianos from
that period that I see don't damp well at all compared to modern standards,
even if you replace all the damper parts. Is this a "fault" or a deliberate
effect because that's the way they liked it back then?

Maybe I've just tuned too many birdcages...  B-})

                        John

John Musselwhite, RPT
Calgary, Alberta Canada
musselj@cadvision.com