[CAUT] On the value of muffler rails

[Mark Cramer]

Slicing muffler felt (vertically/carefully) between unisons can help 
clean-up that smeary mix of semitones, in certain areas of the scale 
where thicker felt /scrubs/ neighboring strings.
Mark Cramer

On 10/02/2011 12:27 PM, Ed Sutton wrote:
> I have replaced the muffler felt on my vertical with thin muslin. It 
> gives an effect similar to the una corda on a grand.
> Ed Sutton
>
>     ----- Original Message -----
>     *From:* Edward Sambell <mailto:esambell at yahoo.com>
>     *To:* caut at ptg.org <mailto:caut at ptg.org>
>     *Sent:* Thursday, February 10, 2011 11:42 AM
>     *Subject:* Re: [CAUT] On the value of muffler rails
>
>     Don,
>
>     I do concede the point, but in actual practice this rarely
>     occurs.If the felt wears out it is rarely replaced. I do have one
>     customer, a very sensitive music teacher who used it because the
>     treble hurt her ears, but after voicing the hammers she no longer
>     does. It raises the issue too that a prospective buyer will most
>     probably understand the need for tuning, but will not be told that
>     regular use of the middle pedal will require  replacement of the
>     felt. It might lead the piano owner to believe their piano to be
>     faulty, or become a warranty concern. To install a component which
>     is known to wear out quickly has more in common with planned
>     obsolescence than good maintenance.
>
>     Ted
>
>     ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>     *From:* Don Mannino <dmannino at kawaius.com>
>     *To:* "caut at ptg.org" <caut at ptg.org>
>     *Sent:* Thu, February 10, 2011 10:58:27 AM
>     *Subject:* [CAUT] On the value of muffler rails
>
>     Ted,
>
>     Yes, your comments are certainly valid.  But remember, customers
>     do like to have the muffler rail to silence the piano late at
>     night.  For those customers who need it, having this capability is
>     very valuable.
>
>     The fact that it does not last very long if used much is not
>     really such an unusual thing in our business.  After all, tunings
>     don’t last very long either, but we still tune pianos!  The
>     muffler felt is an expendable item that should be replaced
>     regularly, that’s all.
>
>     Don Mannino
>
>     *From:*caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] *On
>     Behalf Of *Edward Sambell
>     *Sent:* Wednesday, February 09, 2011 6:44 PM
>     *To:* caut at ptg.org
>     *Subject:* Re: [CAUT] Yahama YUS 5
>
>     This was in the Hoffman pianos, made by Euterpe, and acquired by
>     Bechstein. As you say, very slick indeed. Though I take a somewhat
>     jaundiced view of the muffler rail. If it gets used, it wears out
>     quickly, and if not, why have it. Musically it is useless, and the
>     rationale  it is there for apartment dwellers makes little sense.
>     If it were a valid need for the piano, why is it not in grands
>     too? The truth is that it is there to give the middle pedal
>     something to do, and is cheaper than the unlamented bass damper
>     lift, which has all but disappeared.Of course,  the marketers
>     would scream if piano makers simply did the sensible thing and
>     eliminated the middle pedal in verticals altogether, or used it
>     exclusively for the sostenuto as is being done now in the more
>     expensive instruments. A generation ago a prominent UK music
>     educator, Tobias Matthay, likened the 'celeste' pedal, as it is
>     called in England to "a dog barking with its head in a sack".
>     Evidently he was not impressed with its celestial qualities. But I
>     have to admit "celeste" was a brilliant selling tactic If a
>     customer insisted on  a muffler rail it could made optional or
>     retrofitted.
>
>     Ted Sambell
>
>
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