Steinway damper "thump"

[Ron Nossaman]

Hi Gang,

I had an S&S B in a college auditorium that produced a dramatic
SSHHOOOOSSSHH-WHUMP every time you depressed and released the damper pedal.
Lifting individual damper heads and dropping them produced DOINK noises
that, taken all together, produced the WHUMP (nomenclature is my life).
This convinced me it was the damper felts, and not the rest of the felts,
pads, cushions, bushings, guides, and bumpers in the path between pedal and
damper.  The humidity control in the storage room adjacent to the stage
was/is such that the piano's first summer there produced rust stains on the
dampers! I told them I could try to wooly the old dampers up enough to maybe
work, at probably half the cost of replacement, or I could replace them. The
new dampers worked just fine; SQRT(shoosh-whump). We'll see what the summer
brings.

Ron    

At 10:20 AM 5/16/98 EDT, you wrote:
>In a message dated 98-05-15 09:22:13 EDT, you write:
>
>>The owner says that this thump has always been there.Of course, any grand
>>damper set will make noise on a rapid release of the pedal but this is
>>REALLY loud. To make matters worse, the piano is in a large open room,
>>hardwood floors, NO furniture or drapes and 12 foot ceilings. 
>>Any thoughts,tips, suggestions?
>>
>>
>>Paul E. Dempsey, RPT
>
>
>
>I had this same problem on another piano, (not a Steinway), but the room
>conditions were similar. My solution, which reduced the "thump" about half,
>was removing each damper, and "voicing" each felt. It is surprising how hard
>those felts can get in a short period of time. I also adjusted the pedals and
>tramp work so that the dampers are raised the minimum amount over the strings,
>and still allow the sostonuto to work. On a Steinway this might mean removing
>some leather, and adjusting the sostonuto bar, but it might be worth the
>effort.
>
>Good luck
>
>Willem Blees RPT St. louis
>

 Ron