Matthew, did you check to see if the dampers "follow" the strings when pressing on the strings away from you? Could be a regulation problem as well.  I can't explain why there is black sticky stuffs on your fingers off the strings....weird.  Try putting on new damper felt after cleaning the strings somehow with a soft brass wire brush and a bit of Naptha.  Is it a mold of some sort?  New felts seem to be a probable fix with good regulation. I've found a lot of old uprights seem to have that "resonance" after a song, piece, note, etc is played.  I think some of that was favorable in those days.  Our harpsichord rebuilder mentioned that when he brought back one of ours after a rebuild.  Apparantly, it was popular in the day for the instruments to resonate a bit after playing...not like, say, Yamaha's, that stop immediately, which seems to be the expected these days.  Just more thoughts....BTW, Nobody liked this dwindling sound, so I and Richard West had to reconfigure the dampers on it. Ugh! That was a pain after $7,500!! (lots of other stuff was done, though). Good luck! Paul <table width=100%> <tr valign=top> <td>From: <td>David Boyce <David@piano.plus.com> <tr valign=top> <td>To: <td>pianotech@ptg.org <tr valign=top> <td>Date: <td>03/01/2011 01:47 PM <tr valign=top> <td>Subject: <td>Re: [pianotech] Echo issue</table> <hr noshade> Matthew, I notice from your photos that the discolouration is severe on only the first of the three sections of felt on these bass dampers.   This could mean that only that first section on each damper, is in contact with the strings, if the discolouration arises from some cehmical reation between the strings and something in the felt. It's possible, if that's the case, that it is simply this lack of complete contact with the strings, that is leading to the "ringing on" of the bass strings, and that the chemical discolouration is a completely separate issue. Just a thought. Best regards, David Boyce