Sustain rods

[Avery Todd]

Robin,

   Since you haven't gotten many responses yet, I'll make a couple of
comments. I'm going to assume, perhaps incorrectly, that you're referring
to old uprights. Even if not, one thing to check is the hanger brackets.
They *can* break or be slightly bent.
   It isn't a *real* big job to remove the rod. Just remove any necessary
dampers to enable you to get to the screws for the mounting brackets and
remove by sliding the rod out, carefully. Just take your time and it will
usually slide out from behind the dampers fairly easily. Just be careful
one of the hangers doesn't get caught on something and break a flange.
   While everything is out, check all the hangers for proper alignment.
This is also a good time to check the bushing in the mounting brackets and
replace if needed. You can also clean the rod, hangers and lube the bushing
felt.
   In my experience, I've never seen a rod bent but of course, I learned a
long time ago that *anything* is possible.
   If there is nothing wrong in this area, check the damper spoon contact
felt. It's possible that rough edge spoons have dug into the felt enough to
give this uneven rise or just too much wear from age/use.
   Other than these things, it's probably just going to be a damper
regulation that is needed.
   Hope this is of some help.

Avery

>A rather common problem around here is upright damper/sustain systems out of
>whack, the familiar uneven rise of the line of dampers. After tightening all
>relevant hardware (which doesn't usually help much) I regulate it. But I don't
>quite understand why this develops or how to fairly simply solve it other than
>by regulation.
>
>Removing the rods to see if they're warped might take quite a while; and if
>they are, what then, just replace and regulate anyway? Is straightening one
>of these rods practical? Or is the problem compression of the felt in the
>mounting brackets, which doesn't seem like it could account for all the
>out-of-lineness.
>
>Thanks
>Robin Fox

_____________________________________
Avery Todd
Moores School of Music
University of Houston
Houston, TX 77204-4893
713-743-3226
atodd@uh.edu
http://www.uh.edu/music/
_____________________________________