Bzzzing Dampers

[Kent Swafford]

on 1/18/01 8:40 AM, jolly roger at baldyam@sk.sympatico.ca wrote:

> I will try and get Derek Gibson to take some digital photos
> and post them.  They work real slick, looks as if they were made from a
> pair of Japanese electric shank bending pliers.
> The jaws have been marked with 3 lines, so that it is easy to sqeeze each
> lead blind. They are slim enough to slid right back to the flange.
> By far, this problem is the most common for noisy dampers on this age of
> Yamaha. Probably why they designed a tool?
> I've encountered enough of them in this dry climate, that I now recognise
> the sound quickly.But for those finding this problem for the first time it
> can be a hair puller.

I am much more familiar with this sound than I care to be. I have found
loose underlever leads in Yamahas, Young Changs, and Steinways. The leads
can loosen enough to shift partly out of their holes and rub against the
adjacent underlever, or even loosen enough to fall completely out of the
underlever. Loose leads in the back action makes for some interesting
"sticking key" problems.

Since I have found the problem so often, I have been amazed that there
hasn't been more attention given to the problem; surely other techs have
seen this. A long term fix would be downright easy with a good tool.

I use a pair of parallel pliers (Schaff 282) outfitted with inward-facing
points at the tips of the jaws.

I hope it works out to do some pictures. I would love to see the Japanese
tool.

Kent Swafford