hammer rail felt

[Dave Nereson]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "pianolover 88" <pianolover88@hotmail.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Saturday, May 01, 2004 10:28 PM
Subject: hammer rail felt


>>> I hate to just trim off old pieces of softer felt from
whatever/whetrever...it looks sloppy and will compress in time becuase it's
soft.  > Terry Peterson <<<<

    Aw, you can use soft felt. I've used old temperament strip for hammer
rail cushions for a long time and when I return to those pianos, it hasn't
compressed at all.  They don't have that much weight on them.  If you're
worried about it, you can pre-compress the felt by pounding it with a
hammer.
    But as others have suggested, backcheck felt and dense understring felt
(as found between tuning pins and agraffes on some grands) is probably
better, and hammer skivings (scrap hammer felt) is best.  Or even little
rubber blocks (cut up old rubber mutes).
    If I have to shim the rail up an extreme amount, I've sometimes used
little pieces of wood covered with thin felt.
    --David Nereson, RPT