<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; = charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1264" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I <FONT size=3>put new damper felt on = an 1880s Knabe square grand yesterday. No rebuild here, but rather "just make it = play". I am struck by the poor damping on this piano. Then again, I look at those = seven-foot-long bass strings and wonder how a tiny little damper could = have been any better even when the piano was new. Is poor damping a common = affliction of the square grand design?</FONT></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>Terry Farrell</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>