Square Grand bichord damper felt

[Kurt]

Geez everyone, calm down.
Nothings been done yet.
I'm open to new perspectives and corrections.
:-)

Reasons for using pads:
1. It's the way the original designers intended. Square's shouldn't sound 
"that way".
(Implies that no improvements have occurred in the intervening 135 
years/historic sound is better regardless of context.)
2. Beethoven liked it that way/clean cut-off should not be heard in 
historic pianos.
(Implies my client wants to hear the same damper bleed Beethoven did.)

I ain't convinced. Not at all.

My client is not interested in having a "historically true" restoration.
I wasn't hired to do so.
He simply wants a piano he can play and enjoy.
And his grandchildren and great grandchildren, etc.
These nuances of "how a square should play as it was intended" are actually 
irrelevant to my client, although not perhaps to the League For The 
Prevention of Modern Sounding Square Grands".

I am a far better pianist than him, and unlike him, I have a good sense of 
what is NOT enjoyable, and he trusts me.

Heck, I trust me too.

:0)

What is NOT enjoyable is lousy damper functioning with bleed-over as the 
key being played modulates quickly to another key.

I AM 100% open to doing what is in the best interest of my client, and no 
decision has been made.

I'm just somewhat boggled that a choice to have more damper over-ring than 
needed is being proposed as desirable simply because of an abstract notion 
of having the piano sound as it did in 1876, (which I do appreciate on it's 
own as a principle, but not in this real-world context) rather than having 
a clean sound for a beginning musician who could not care less whether a 
clean sound would have bothered a pianist of that era.

I can be convinced I'm wrong, but it will take more persuasive arguments 
than an appeal to historic accuracy in reproduction of function.

Were this job for a history buff musician or a musical historical society, 
that would be completely different.

I would then grovel and beg for every scrap of "how to do it as they did 
it, no change whatsoever".

This piano will never be played in a concert setting, and it is extremely 
unlikely that anyone beyond intermediate will play it, ever.

It is likely that as many Christmas carols and Beatles tunes will be played 
as Bach or Mozart.

Realistically, the odds of

A: Someone complaining - "Gee, the dampers work too well for an old square 
and it bugs me"
or
B: Someone complaining - "Gee, the dampers sure seem muddy, can that be fixed?"

Well...

If this were MY piano, we wouldn't even be having this conversation.

I loathe even the tiniest damper over-ring in any piano I play, and even 
the best Yamaha damping is just barely good enough for my tastes.

It isn't "atmosphere", it's slop!

;-)

Now, what say you, oh valiant protectors of atavistic sloppy historicalnesses?

(All in good fun y'all, convince me I'm wrong, and I'll admit it!)