David S(no C) wrote: <While you don't seem to have swapped out the reps themselves, you appear to have focused in on the damper mechanism as a variable. (I wrote the following before re-reading your post re: dampers, but thought it worth mentioning: Did you notice whether the jacks were centered in the rep slot? or whether the pinning of the jacks was firm? Off-center jack can either contact wood or glue (jack stop felt). David... jacks are centered reasonably and there is no wood on wood contact in the range of jack motion. I did not remove the spring from the jack to test the pinning, but did bring the A0 whip home to match and try and swap out for 2 new reps next time. I attempted to swap a rep on-site, but would have had to remove travel paper from the non-symptomatic rep to do the swap. Time was running short, so taking a sample whip home seemed to make the most sense to pull off the swap. I did start focusing on the damper mechanism because the noise disappeared after depressing the sustain pedal, but I also wrote that I was skeptical that the dampers were the problem...I'm exploring them though, and not eliminating anything as the culprit. <Zeno's point, re: damper stop rail felt is good, however, that would seem immediately evident when testing individual damper lift. Right...the sound is not obvious when the damper lever is run beyond its normal range of movement. At least I thought I was taking it beyond its normal range of movement. I will check to confirm this next time, as well as check John P's sostenuto point. <Wim's observation also good. Did you check for any glue or hardness on the key-end felt? Yes. And scraped the felt gently to expose a fresh surface...still not it. Also scraped the drop screw contact leather to expose fresh leather. I noticed that the existing knuckle ecsaine was not as taught to the knuckle under felt as I thought it should be. When pinched, the ecsaine lifts from the underfelt. I thought this was not ideal in such an important interface. I checked out the new Renner shanks I had with me, and their ecsaine, when pinched was as migratory if not more migratory than the old, so I didn't bother switching a new knuckle for an old. The looseness of the knuckle ecsaine/underfelt piqued my curiosity. So I checked new WNG and Abel knukles I had in the shop. The ecsaine/underfelt did not deform as easily as the Renner, and on both the WNG and Abel I was not able to pinch the ecsaine away from the underfelt, with the WNG being the tightest knuckle wrap. This tight wrap seems like good, if not essential, idea to me in this important spot. So, regarding loose damper lever leads...what are the symptoms? I've not run into this before. Jim Ialeggio -- Jim Ialeggio jim at grandpianosolutions.com 978 425-9026 Shirley Center, MA
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC