[pianotech] lubricating damper springs?

Paul T Williams pwilliams4 at unlnotes.unl.edu
Fri May 22 15:34:07 MDT 2009


That's the one!! 

Sorry!

Paul





Barbara Richmond <piano57 at comcast.net> 
Sent by: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org
05/22/2009 04:02 PM
Please respond to
pianotech at ptg.org


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Re: [pianotech] lubricating damper springs?






The only monkey I'm familiar with is in the Steinway sostenuto system.
 
Barbara Richmond, RPT
near Peoria, Illinois

----- Original Message -----
From: "Gregor _" <karlkaputt at hotmail.com>
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2009 11:21:56 AM GMT -06:00 US/Canada Central
Subject: Re: [pianotech] lubricating damper springs?

Thank you, Dave. Why not lifting the springs out of the groove? The whole 
procedure takes about 15 minutes and one can apply the correct dose 
sparingly.

BTW, I still don´t know what was meant by monkey that Paul mentioned.

Gregor


To: pianotech at ptg.org
Date: Fri, 22 May 2009 10:17:26 -0400
From: piannaman at aol.com
Subject: Re: [pianotech] lubricating damper springs?

Gregor,

Sorry about jumping in so late on the topic, but I haven't perused the 
list for awhile.

If you have figured out your squeak/creak has nothing to do with the rod, 
grommets, pedal lever pivots, hinges or screw attachments, I suspect it's 
coming from the damper lever springs.  I diagnose this problem by pulling 
the damper head back toward me off the string with my finger to see if it 
makes that annoying creaking.  It doesn't take much to cause an 
aggravating noise while pedaling if they're all doing it.

I do the same as with rep springs that are making noise:  dip my spring 
tool into Protek MPL 1 (a gel type lubricant available at supply houses), 
trying to get a small amount into the groove,.  I reach in with it and 
slide it as straight up the lever spring as possible, and over the top. 
This almost always takes care if this particular problem

Tips
Try to get good lighting.  Seeing what you're doing is crucial here.
Don't use too much lubricant.  It can be messy, though MPL1 isn't 
hazardous material....
Depressing the pedal helps get an arc in the spring that allows for easier 
access to the base of the spring. 
Try not to lift the spring out of the groove. 

Hope this helps a little,

Dave Stahl, RPT
Dave Stahl Piano Service
dstahlpiano at sbcglobal.net
dstahlpiano.net 


-----Original Message-----
From: Gregor _ <karlkaputt at hotmail.com>
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Sent: Wed, 13 May 2009 1:47 am
Subject: Re: [pianotech] lubricating damper springs?

Thank you for all your answers.

The felts of the dampers levers are really clean. Also the rod has no gunk 
and looks clean too. The damper springs as well. It´s a Renner action from 
1986 and the whole piano is well-kept and of high quality. The sounds have 
nothing to do with the pedal or the grommet because the action was outside 
of the piano. I can´t isolate the source of the sound. Maybe the springs, 
maybe the rod-felt-joint.

One thing I didn´t think about are the action brackets. Maybe they are 
loose. Unfortunately the piano is at a customers home, not in my workshop, 
so I can´t check it right now.

Paul, what do you mean by monkey? There was no monkey, but the customer 
has a cat :-)

Gregor

To: pianotech at ptg.org
Date: Tue, 12 May 2009 15:40:21 -0400
From: wimblees at aol .com
Subject: Re: [pianotech] lubricating damper springs?

Gregor

If the spring groove has graphite, then you should only use more graphite. 
Putting fat in the groove will attract dust, which will gum up, and cause 
sluggishness in the spring. 

The other cause of the noise could be where the rod pushes the levers. 
Remove a damper lever, and if you see that the felt is black and corroded, 
you will need to brush off the black stuff, or turn the felt strip around. 
(remove it, and put the bottom where the top was). Just polishing the rod 
will not be enough to solve the squeaking problem. 

In some cases, the felt will be worn through, and the rod is actually 
rubbing against the wood of the lever. In that case you'll need to replace 
the felt, or if you don't have any to replace, turn it around. 

Willem (Wim) Blees, RPT
Piano Tuner/Technician
Mililani, Oahu, HI
808-349-2943
Author of: 
The Business of Piano Tuning
available from Potter Press
www.pianotuning.com


-----Original Message-----
From: Gregor _ <karlkaputt at hotmail.com>
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Sent: Tue, 12 May 2009 2:49 am
Subject: [pianotech] lubricating damper springs?

#AOLMsgPart_2_8e8d9b14-aafc-4dc6-83d8-3c4e52f121be .ExternalClass 
#EC_AOLMsgPart_2_7058aaf3-d8b6-40f1-8ea3-6ab89fec73c9 .EC_hmmessage 
P{padding:0px;}#AOLMsgPart_2_8e8d9b14-aafc-4dc6-83d8-3c4e52f121be 
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body.EC_hmmessage{font-size:10pt;font-family:Verdana;} List,

I have a problem with annoying sounds when depressing the right ped al of 
an upright very slowly. It turned out that it comes from the dampers or 
the rod that lifts the dampers. Usualy I fix it with lubricating the 
springs and the rod and the hinge-joints of the rod. But in this case it 
did not help. The spings are not embedded in felt or leather but in 
graphitated wood. I used stag fat for the dampers and the rod, which 
usualy helps allways (for the hinge-joints I used Protec CLP). Was that a 
mistake instead of using graphit for the spring embedding? I mean, if new 
graphit were the only way to solve such a problem, then a future 
application of graphit could be hindered by the fat on the springs. But I 
am not shure about that.

Any ideas about the source of these sounds and the solution of that 
problem? It´s an Ibach C upright from 1986 with a Renner action. It seems 
that the bass dampers are the main culprits.

Gregor

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