<!doctype html public "-//W3C//DTD W3 HTML//EN"> <html><head><style type="text/css"></style><title>Re: Muffler felt problem</title></head><body> <div>Chuck, Don,</div> <div><br></div> <div>A thinner felt also helps, though you can't eliminate the occasional neighbor strings from sounding at times. Of course, in my mind that is part of the magic when the muffler rail is in use. Those faint dissonant sounds every now and then.</div> <div><br></div> <div>I should add that I have never modified an existing manufacturer's rail to date. But I have made customized muffler rails for pianos that don't have them. Really quite nice when they're installed close to the strings and a very thin felt is used. It produces a sweet, soft sound.</div> <div><br></div> <div>Keith McGavern<br> Registered Piano Technician<br> Oklahoma Chapter 731<br> Piano Technicians Guild</div> <div>USA</div> <div><br></div> <blockquote type="cite" cite>Chuck,<br> <br> Adjusting the distance of the felt from the strings can help also.  Try flexing the rail so that it is close to the strings in the offending section.  The felt gets a lot less momentum going, and doesn't whack the strings.<br> <br> Don Mannino RPT<br> <br> <br> At 11:10 PM 1/27/2003 -0500, you wrote:<br> <blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1">Problem:  With "sanity pedal" engaged, and when the player is also using sustain pedal, the muffler felt is hitting the strings immediately adjacent to the one being struck.<br> Has anyone tried slicing the felt between unisons as a viable cure?  I'm thinking that that might alter the stiffness of the felt section so much that its function would be lost, or the felt would twist or even wear out too soon?<br> I'll probably be replacing the felt in a couple of years anyway, because the subject piano is a Yamaha M450 console on a shared wall in an apartment complex, where the polite owner is trying to be a good neighbor - meaning the middle pedal is usually locked down.<br> Thanks in advance for kind suggestions.<br> <br> Chuck<br> <br> <br> Chuck Christus, RPT<br> Flagler Beach, FL</font></blockquote> </blockquote> <div><br></div> </body> </html>