[CAUT] damper touch weight - tri-cord friction

Fred Sturm fssturm at unm.edu
Mon Dec 20 09:37:25 MST 2010


On Dec 20, 2010, at 8:00 AM, David Skolnik wrote:

>> First, there is quite a bit of force needed to push trichord  
>> dampers out of the strings - as much a 5 gm. Even when trimmed  
>> nicely and precisely to the bottom of the strings there is a  
>> significant amount, though the difference between well-trimmed and  
>> not trimmed is noticeable,
>
> Fred's observation is interesting, though inconclusive.  He does  
> have the means, if not the time, to pursue this more thoroughly. I  
> hope he does.


Just a couple quick comments: The big difference is between untrimmed  
and trimmed. And the jig pointed out to me where trimming that I  
thought was pretty good actually wasn't so precise: when I looked from  
below, I could see that there was a significant (here that means 0.5 -  
1 mm) amount of felt below the strings. This can be really important  
for damper function and those pesky noises, especially for close-miked  
recording, so this becomes a diagnostic tool to check your work. Like  
I said in my post, it's an easy jig to make. No need for fancy stuff -  
gram scales, roller bearings - to make a very useful gauge.
	I don't think I would consider applying teflon powder to the damper  
wedges. I am not planning to obsess about this, just to even out and  
make improvement, diagnose things a little faster.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
fssturm at unm.edu
http://www.createculture.org/profile/FredSturm



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