Grand damper felt alignment

[Keith Roberts]

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See Terry, stick your neck out and.......
    Yeah, I agree, that is what I thought but this is the way I was =
shown, kinda. I am not sure of the reason, the person who showed me had =
for putting the dampers in the piano as they glue them, but if I didn't =
on this Baldwin they would look lousy. In the tenor section the agraffes =
are spaced unevenly. The same in the last two Steinways I did. With the =
uneven string spacing, the heads don't look like they are right with =
different spaces between them. Uneven string spacing is hardly =
noticeable but damper spacing stands out. On the Mason Hamlin AA, every =
third head was tapered to match the heads to the fan of the strings. =
Figure out where to center that felt when gluing.=20
This may be controversial but I think looks play more of a part in =
selling a piano than sound. I don't believe I compromise the damping of =
the string by off centering the felt to the head. 1 mm can make a big =
difference. My damper jobs are getting high marks for looks and since I =
complained about regulating behind someone else's glue job, the job is =
mine. It's amazing how many regulation problems you can solve in the 15 =
to 30 seconds of adjustment time if your wire bending pliers are close. =
I don't tighten the screw, they just sit loose on the string.
I'm thinking I need to pay a little more attention to how the wires hang =
through the tray without the felt on and check each head to see that the =
wire drops straight away from the head. On this Baldwin, the board was =
original so the guide rails and tray hadn't been messed with. The last =
two, I had to have the guide rails moved about a mm. It would be nice to =
be able to do a quick check of alignment in the piano. Anybody got a set =
of clip on felts, all flat?
    Okay, my neck is stretched out and on the block. I hope the steel =
hood I added to my flame suit is strong enough. May be I should have =
drilled some ventilation holes in it.
Keith Roberts




----- Original Message -----=20
  From: BobDavis88@aol.com=20
  To: pianotech@ptg.org=20
  Sent: Monday, March 24, 2003 8:49 AM
  Subject: Grand damper felt alignment


  In a message dated 3/22/2003, kpiano@goldrush.com writes:


    Damper felts on a Baldwin grand. I cut the felts and set them in =
order in a
    tray. All square cuts on this one. Sitting at the piano, the glue =
pot,
    dampers and felts to the left, I grab the damper, turn it over, =
brush on the
    glue, set the felts into the glue quick. A little fuss with =
alignment, turn
    it over, make sure, then a quick, firm, press. Knock off the squeeze =
and put
    the damper in place. Of course I've loosened all the screws and =
checked the
    hole with a drill bit. At this point I have about 15 to 30 sec to =
push the
    felt around with the tip of a screwdriver. This aligns the head with =
the
    string and makes the front and back edge look the same.=20


  I don't like to put the dampers in to use the string as a guide. The =
head might not be perfectly aligned to the string, and I want to fix =
that separately, later. I leave the dampers out until the glue dries. =
Alignment of the felt front to back and side to side can be best done as =
in the first part of your note. Before the felt is cut, be sure to mark =
one side of it (on the surface which is to be glued), and keep all the =
marks to the same side. That way, if the felt is not perfectly =
symmetrical (hah) it will still match front to back. Then, the eye and =
fingers are best gauges of alignment, while the felt and head are still =
in your hand. If you have some which are trichord wedges front and back, =
you can set a knife blade in the center slots to align if it makes you =
feel better, but it shouldn't be necessary.

  The damper heads might now not align with the strings, but you want to =
fix that anyway - at least the felt is aligned with the head.

  Bob Davis=20

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