Hi Michelle, I've got 30 Baldwin uprights (15 Hamiltons and 15 6000s) we bought new in 1995 when we moved into our building. By the time I came on board in 1998, damper regulation with key lift was already awful, particularly in the low tenor on most if not all of them, but of the older (70s) Hamilton models we have, the problem does not seem to be so evident. It was bad enough (after only 3 years) that when muting the outside unisons with a strip, the middle string was so muffled that you could not tune it, due to the damper wedge not clearing the string. I've noticed this on other Baldwins I've serviced in years past, and it seems to be some sort of either premature wear on the damper lift cloth, or the cloth is so sparse that it compacts quickly after moderate usage. It is more concentrated in the area of triple unison wedges. The wedges also are severely compacted, adding to later and later lift with the key. I've removed several of the dampers and found deep gouges where the spoons press against the felt. It was suggested by one technician on this list (forgive me, the name of whoever suggested this escapes me) that the spoons were not properly polished at the factory, and actually tearing out the felt. But for all of them? I have not observed whether the spoons contain the residue. I did remove one wippen the other day, and the spoon on this particular wippen was quite smooth. I'm also recently realizing how spongy front rail cloth punchings in our Baldwin grands of the same vintage (1995) are. The amount of "after-after touch" is amazing. I've had to reduce key dip to smaller than 3/8", with hammer shanks laying on the rails at the lowest point the rail can be adjusted to be able to reduce after touch enough to stop after touch blocking. I wonder then, if this is not a product of inferior cloth being used also on the damper lever, rather than spoons being rough. I have turned damper spoon pads (or damper lifter felt?) upside down in years past, but I'm not quite sure I'd know what kind of cloth would be best to order to replace them. Jeff >It's Michelle here... as I posted before... anyone see this on upright >spoons?? I don't know of many who replace damper spoon pads that much.... >I saw the same thing on a Baldwin Hamilton and just recently, a Steinway >upright.. > > >( Please keep the previously mentioned upright jokes to a minimum.) > >:) michelle --On Wed, Jul 3, 2002 2:45 PM -0500 "Thomas D. Seay, III" ><t.seay@mail.utexas.edu> wrote: > Jeff Tanner Piano Technician School of Music 813 Assembly ST University of South Carolina Columbia, SC 29208 (803)-777-4392 (phone)
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