Upright Damper Replacement

[Kevin E. Ramsey]

    Terry, you don't seem to be getting too many bites on this thread, so
I'd better give you my two cents worth.

    Yes, I'd go for the longer dampers every time. Maybe you remember that
thread that I started about the Steinway upright that wouldn't damp. Well, I
cut the old short dampers off, and glued the new ones on in the piano, and
it really worked. You just have to be careful to get the damper "board" up
as high as you can without having the hammer hit it, so that it's as
centered on the head as possible. Put it on with hide glue, and before it
sets make sure that the "board" , for lack of a better term is parallel to
the strings. Push in on the bottom if you need to.
    I don't see a problem with dowels, usually the problem in the tenor is
that you can't really put on too long a damper because the bass
overstringing is in the way, and the hammer will hit it in the other
direction, so you're limited there, hence the Steinway overdampers.
    Also, why use new damperheads? Unless for looks or the old ones are
shot? If the old ones are the flat heads, I'd rather use those than dowels.
    Hope this helps, and if any of the rebuilders think I'm all wet, then
they can flame me.

    ( I just love being a "straight man".)


----- Original Message -----
From: "Farrell" <mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2001 7:34 AM
Subject: Upright Damper Replacement


> 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
>