Kimball Grand Dampers

[Delwin D Fandrich]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Terry Neely" <tlneely@mindspring.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: January 22, 2001 10:58 AM
Subject: Kimball Grand Dampers


> Hello to all. I hope someone can come up with something.
> Critter:  Kimball grand approx 6' approx 11 years old. Spent its first
> several years in a home on the coast of North Carolina. Generaly good
> condition, some rust on strings. Moved to center of state recently, put
> in room above a floor AC vent, resulting in a soundboard crack appearing
> like a pistol shot in the middle of the night a week ago.
> Problem: About 1/2 bass dampers do not damp properly. Will stop sound
> after about 5 seconds.The rest of the bass ok Midrange and treble
> dampers ok. A slight pressure on the damper head will result in proper
> damping.(makes it hard to stay in tempo while playing, though) Notice
> that dampers seem to stand a little proud above the strings while at
> rest on the offending unisons
> Solutions tried: Protek lifter wires to eliminate
> sluggishness-successful. Needle dampers to soften felt- no help.
> De-regulate dampers to the point that they are not lifting at all, just
> hanging on strings while still attached to lifter lever- no help. Made
> sure the lifters were not hanging up on the key end felt- no help
>
> Could this be a problem with a lack of weight (or more properly
> mass-right Del?)
> Other thoughts?                 Thanks in advance,   Terry Neely
> ----------------------------------------------

Terry,

Several questions come to mind:
    1)    Did the damper problems appear at the same time as the crack in
the soundboard?
    2)    If the damper problems preceeded the SB crack, did they appear
after the piano was placed over the AC (also heating?) vent?
    3)    Which end of the bass section has the problem?
    4)    Does SB crack run under damper guide rail(s)?
    5)    With the dampers correctly regulated are the dampers still
standing proud of the strings? If so, what is holding them up?
    6)    Did anything else shift do to the (probably) dramatic change in
the piano's immediate climate? I'm pretty sure Kimball used laminated
keybeds and bellyrail stock, but you might check.

I'm not surprised dampers won't damp under their own weight -- that is,
without the weight of the damper lever. This would be a mass problem, but
this is not the way they were intended to work. And I am assuming that the
dampers did work properly at one time. This being the case you are looking
for something that changed and, once finding what has changed, then when did
it change.

Del