noisy grand dampers

[William R. Monroe]

Clyde,

I have dealt with this noise on so many grands, new, old, whatever.  Some of
the techniques that others have suggested may work well for you, though I
have not tried them.  I prefer to remove the dampers.  I also like to do all
of the wedge felts if needed.  The greates noise inevitably comes from the
trichords, but sometimes from the bichords or monochords too.  At any rate,
I like to trim them all for aesthetics anyway.

1.    I remove the action, propping the lift tray up just as if you were
regulating the damper lift to the keys
2.    Remove damper.
3.    Using a couple different pair of VERY SHARP scissors (Barbers
scissors) one with two smooth edges, and one with a single smooth and one
serrated edge, I trim the excess felt off the bottom - flat, so that the
damper felt does not extend below the string.  4.    Next, I trim the two
corners created by the first cut to give the damper a more rounded shape,
rather than a square cut at the bottom.  Learning to do this part well makes
a big difference.
5.    Replace damper - checking for proper muting

One added benefit of this procedure is that when you are done, the dampers
that you have trimmed are all well regulated to the pedal (and key) lift.

Thanks to Richard Davenport, from whom I learned this procedure.

William R. Monroe
Assoc.
Madison, WI


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Clyde Hollinger" <cedel@supernet.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Tuesday, December 23, 2003 5:51 AM
Subject: noisy grand dampers


> Friends,
>
> Yesterday I tuned a 1993 Kawai KG-2A grand piano, which I've been tuning
> every six months since 1998.  This time the client asked if anything
> could be done about the sustain noise, what I would call a type of
> whoosh as the sustain pedal is depressed.  In my opinion she is talking
> about the sound of the damper wires rubbing in the damper guide rail
> holes, combined with the sound of the 23 trichord dampers lifting off
> the strings.
>
> I used CLP on all the guide rail bushings, and that seemed to take care
> of that noise, but I think the other will not go away until the part of
> the trichord dampers that goes down between the strings is trimmed away.
>
> Is there any efficient and neat way to do this without removing the
> dampers?  What procedure do I follow?
>
> Regards,
> Clyde Hollinger, RPT
>
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