<html> At 02:55 AM 11/20/2001 -0700, you wrote: <blockquote type=cite cite>Damper not damping.  Grand or upright?  Doesn't matter -- happens on both. Press the strings.  Plenty of follow.  Check lift with pedal.  OK.  Lift with key.  OK.  String level. OK.  Regulation, alignment, seating, OK. Softness vs. crustiness.  OK.  But it doesn't damp.  Check for sympathetic ringing on other strings, but no, it's this damper.  Take it off, needle or fluff up the area not damping.  Put back on.  Still doesn't damp.  Try pushing or pulling strings in/out, to change the string level.  Doesn't work.  Put strings back.  Still doesn't damp. Take it back off, peel off a thin layer of felt.  Put back on.  Still doesn't damp.  Getting mad/frustrated now.  Have tried all tricks learned in PTG chapter technicals, Journal articles, and convention classes.  Doesn't damp(en). Decide to replace the felt with brand new.  Do so;  re-check align, seating, regulation.  Still doesn't damp.  Well, it does, but not as well as the other (old) ones.  WHY?!!  WHY?!!  WHY?!!  Decide the felt must need time to settle into the strings.  Glad it's not for a concert that starts in five minutes.  Still need to hear some damper secrets that in 20 years of classes, articles, and technicals, I haven't heard or seen.      Sincerely, David Nereson, RPT, Denver</blockquote> Has the assist spring broken? Is the wire aligned 90 degrees to the rail and enter the top flange unimpeded and is not dragging on the side of the bushing? Is the wire polished?  Stiff center pins?   On a node? Just what you wanted...more questions. Regards, Jon Page,   piano technician Harwich Port, Cape Cod, Mass. <a href="mailto:jonpage@mediaone.net" eudora="autourl">mailto:</a>jonpage<a href="mailto:jonpage@mediaone.net" eudora="autourl">@mediaone.net</a> <a href="http://www.stanwoodpiano.com/" eudora="autourl">http://www.stanwoodpiano.com</a> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</html>