damper lever ht.

[Fred Sturm]

Wim,
	The issue is not so much the angle of the levers as the manner in which 
the two arcs intercept - arcs of underlever versus arc of key (here, 
balance hole to key end). This is very similar to what is done in placing 
capstans and wippen heels for minimum friction. The line between balance 
hole and lever center should correspond to the middle of the travel of the 
underlever end. Seems to me there was an article in the PTJ pretty recently 
(within the last year?) outlining how to measure this. (It's just a bit 
hard to get ones hands and fingers in to stretch a string <g>).
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico

--On Thursday, September 11, 2003 11:23 AM -0400 Wimblees@aol.com wrote:

> When I took Rick & Chris' class on the Renner damper tray replacements, I
> learned that over the years, the angle of the levers had changed from
> what they were originally, so that the angle of the levers in pianos made
> in the 70's were so steep that the levers were digging into the lifter
> felts. And that is what is happening on one of my B's. The mid section
> lifter felts have been replaced once before, and I am doing it again.
>
> I looked at the levers, and they are at about a 10 or 12% degree angle.
> The height is also 1 5/8" instead of the normal 1 1/2". My questions is,
> can I lower the whole tray so that the levers are more level, and the
> height will be 1 1/2"? Or am I asking for trouble?
>
> Wim