<HEAD> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2912" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY> <DIV>Stephane-</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I have previously sometimes done as you describe: tapered the damper lift from the tray so the low bass would "open" sooner and "close" later.  The price for this is that you loose some articulation for individual notes in the bass.  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I didn't think about correcting for damper lift from the key until I read Tom's post.  Aha! you can have it both ways, and maybe make the taper a little longer and stronger.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Wouldn't it also be possible to regulate the dampers in the usual way for even lift from the tray and the key, then insert tapered shims under the tray felt to get the half pedal in the bass to get feathered half-pedaling?</DIV> <DIV>Do you see any reason not to do it this way?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>David- This kind of damping allows very subtle pedal effects because the bass dampers begin to lift sooner than the mid-range dampers. With a very light touch the bass opens enough to give a shimmering sympathetic vibration with the mid-range while mid-range dampers still work normally; or a quick, light drop and rise of the dampers clears the mid-range but leaves the low bass notes still sounding.  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Ed Sutton<BR><BR><BR></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid">-----Original Message----- <BR>From: Stéphane Collin <COLLIN.S@SKYNET.BE><BR>Sent: Aug 1, 2006 5:14 AM <BR>To: ilvey@sbcglobal.net, Pianotech List <PIANOTECH@PTG.ORG><BR>Subject: Re: Mason AA key end felts <BR><BR><ZZZHTML><ZZZHEAD><ZZZMETA content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type"><ZZZMETA name="GENERATOR" content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2912"> <STYLE></STYLE> </ZZZHEAD><ZZZBODY style="BORDER-TOP-STYLE: none; BORDER-RIGHT-STYLE: none; BORDER-LEFT-STYLE: none; BORDER-BOTTOM-STYLE: none" bgColor="#ffffff"> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hi Tom, David, Ed.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Ed, you are the first tech I ever met to bring this up : setting the 10 (or so) last bass damper levers lower, so they start earlier than the others with the pedal, in order to produce some "reverberation" effect when playing the piano with half pedaling.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The fact is that I saw this arrangement a few times on some old and untouched Bechstein pianos, and the effect is so pleasing (when well used) that I do this routinely now on pre war pianos.  Even more, I would now taper the heighth of the last bass damper levers so that they lift one after the other, starting with the lowest one.  Unbelievable what different colour shades you can achieve with this arrangement.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>But I never thought that the key timing was also changing.  Of course this makes sense.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Now, how should we regulate this accurately ? Start with the same thickness of key end felts, then shave a little felt and check the key timing ?  But how do we shave felt (this was always difficult in my world).</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Best regards.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Stéphane Collin.</FONT></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=ilvey@sbcglobal.net href="mailto:ilvey@sbcglobal.net">David Ilvedson</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=ed440@mindspring.com href="mailto:ed440@mindspring.com">ed440@mindspring.com</A> ; <A title=pianotech@ptg.org href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, August 01, 2006 9:12 AM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Mason AA key end felts</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV> <P>Ed,</P> <P>Could you clarify that...set lower to allow easy half pedaling...<BR><BR>David Ilvedson, RPT<BR>Pacifica, CA 94044<BR><BR></P></BLOCKQUOTE></ZZZBODY></ZZZHTML></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY>