Steinway Damper Problem

[Christopher D. Purdy]

>Dear List,
>
>    I'm working on a 1981 Steinway D.  Among other things, the dampers are
>not as even as they should be- uneven lift both from key and tray.  When I
>started to refine them, I found that the collets on the underlever blocks
>(and maybe the holes in the blocks) are very tight. I can't get a fine
>regulation of the dampers because the amount of force needed to overcome
>the friction confuses the issue too much. Normally I would expect the collets
>to slip freely over the damper wires.  Ideally I would remove the dampers
>and drill out the collets.  This piano, of course needs more than can be done
>by performance time. Here's the question:
>   Is there some technic I don't know about to do a fine regulation on dampers
>with tight collets?
>   Thanks.
>
>  -Ed Sutton
>  Northeast Louisiana University
>  musutton@alpha.nlu.edu

ed,

i have had this problem before, often with steinways.  my theory is that it
is not that the hole in the collet is too small (and has to be drilled
out).  i think that the collet actually turns in the wood of the flange so
that the hole is not lined up.  what i have been doing is to use a long,
tapered tool to run down the hole and through the collet.  i use that
tapered flange bushing burnisher from schaff.  the larger the diameter of
the tool gets, the more it forces the collet to turn back to it's original
position.  this is hard to put into words, is this making sense?

chris

-Christopher D. Purdy R.P.T.   School of Music  Ohio University  Athens OH

-purdy@oak.cats.ohiou.edu   (740) 593-1656    fax# (740) 593-1429