Old Steinway upright - new yamaha dampers?

[Mark Dierauf]

Newton -

  And I swore I'd never do another one without a complete parts replacement,
yet here I am.
  I wasn't sure from you message if you realized that I'd be getting rid of
the old blocks alltogether and going with the dowel-type blocks. But since
the whole idea here is to reduce the amount of labor involved in
wire-bending, I don't want to end up by building a new spring-rail to
accommodate any increase in damper dimensions. (Is this what you're alluding
to in your last paragraph?)Naturally, the Steinway is 60 miles away and the
Yamaha damper heads are just pictures in a catalog, so I can't take any
measurements.

- Mark

>From: nhunt@jagat.com (Newton Hunt)
>Subject: Re: Old Steinway upright - new yamaha dampers?

>Hi Mark, long time no hear.

>I have one of those beasties and did another one when I swore never to
>do another,  Ah, well.

>My recommendation is to keep the old block if at all possible.  The
>new blocks are not drilled at the same angles as are the original
>since they are intended to be generic which creates an unbelievable
>amount of bending.  Mind or without barrels but they are tight as they
>are and I will disturb them as little as possible.  I have installed
>new butts so a certain amount of new bending is involved anyway.

>Keep, restore and barrel the original or make certain the new ones
>have the same angles as yours.  Little wooden barrels and blocks cane
>be a problem because of the wire to damper felt dimension.  There is
>VERY little room for changing the working arcs of the damper levers to
>you need to be extra careful here.

>Lots of luck.

>Newton