Damper height gauges

[Michael Jorgensen]

Jim and Newton,
       A disagreement among the greats?   Jim Harvey, you must have tremendous
patience and control over temptation!   I can only bear to install dampers and
regulate each as one step, one damper finished at a time.  I can do about three
before I must walk around, get a drink, and/or comb my hair.
     My own reasons for regulating dampers while installing them are; The
dampers do not sit on the strings for any length of time unregulated where they
could seat themselves wrongly.  Having no damper on one side allows one better
view of the damper being regulated.   Other reasons are purely emotional.  I can
look at the job and say I'm half finished.   (It is encouraging to see half the
piano perfectly regulated instead of the daunting and depressing site of an
entire set of dampers needing work.)   Having half of the dampers installed and
fully regulated eliminates a temptation to quit when "good enough" is achieved.
Mixed work, i.e. bending installing etc., is less fatiguing than doing the same
thing for hours.  Of course, I tune pianos "unison at a time" also.
Just an opinion.
-Mike Jorgensen

>
>
> I was following along your reply real good until the following...
>
> >The one thing I was forced to learn is to install one damper at a time
> >and make that one damper work perfectly before going on to the next.
> >Some prefer to drop all the dampers in at once then try to make them
> >work.  My experience is that one at a time works because one is
> >disinclined to leave something undone before going on to the next.
> >One is inclined to overlook imperfections if one is daunted by a full
> >set to trouble shoot and fix.
>
> You were forced to learn, as in someone beating you with a bat? I'm afraid
> I'm guilty. IOW, I drop all the heads in the blocks, do samples, -then-
> work with one damper at a time. To not overlook imperfections, I explore
> every angle, including using a mirror from below and behind.
>
> I'm happy with the results. The dampers rise evenly from both key and
> pedal, don't tilt or rotate, work with the sostenuto as applicable, and all
> shut off.
>
> I must be missing something. What? Otherwise, perhaps from experiencing so
> much vandalism in the school system, I've become comfortable with the work.
> Come to think of it, I rather enjoy damper work! I'll take my medication now.
>
> Jim Harvey, RPT
> Greenwood, SC
> harvey@greenwood.net