Hi Terry, For verticals we modify the system to accept Yamaha U3 dampers. The bass is nice tri block material, enough tri cord wedges to get up to about mid C, can't remember exactly. ( becoming and old fuddy duddy. <G>) Treble dampers are double felt that is sewn. Excellent material and really fast shut down. Hardly any bleed, if you add taping off the back scales. 3 over and under dampers for the tenor transitior, if needed. . We order 3 sets at a time so we can mix and match, uni cords to bi cords etc. It will do 2 pianos. We configure the dowel lengths to get every thing even, after running the treble blocks thro' the band saw and adding a felt pad to glue the dowel to. We use a nice dollop of PVC-E glue to form a collar around the around the dowel. The felt pad gives a little hinge effect and helps settle the damper quickly.. Before starting it is important to rebush the hanger bushings and align the hangers to get even lift, and equal and even distance of the damper wire from the string. We also change the damper rod felt on the damper levers. The difference it makes to the old Heintzman 52" pianos is like night and day. Do lots of measuring and double checking, before cutting. Ops how do I know? I will never tell. Have fun. Roger At 10:34 AM 8/30/01 -0400, you wrote: >Hi gang. Bill Spurlock wrote an article in the Journal in '94 about upright >damper replacement. The bottom line was that he said that he found that many >or most old uprights had bass dampers that were too short and he had the >best luck with dampers that were from 2 to 2-1/2 inches long, equipped with >three pieces of 5/8" long wedges. He described how he made his own dampers >(making the little boards and gluing the dampers onto new dowel damper >heads) and the process he uses to determine what size will work the best for >any particular piano. > >Have any of you gone this route? Or know anyone that has? Is this generally >a good way to go about getting good working new dampers on an old upright? I >think most of what Bill Spurlock writes is pretty much right on target, but >just looking for a second opinion. This is my first upright damper job, so >it's not as if I gonna draw upon my own personal vast resources of >experience. Thanks. > >Also, he does not mention using the dowel damper heads in the tenor, but >does suggest that some of the first strings in the low tenor often benefit >from a longer damper. Can I trust that there is nothing wrong with using the >dowel damper heads in this area? And is there anything wrong with making >your own dampers for all the treble strings (that originally had dampers) >and mounting them on dowel damper heads? Thanks again! > >Terry Farrell >
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