Steinway damper "thump"

[Douglas Hershberger]

Paul,
   You might try removing the coil spring from above the damper lifter
tray. Sometimes that spring and the trapwork spring together are a
little overkill. Also there should be nice soft pieces of flat damper
felt on the top of each of the dag blocks, that helps to quiet the tray
returning.
Doug Hershberger,RPT

dempsey@MARSHALL.EDU wrote:
> 
> I recently was called to tune a 10 year old Steinway "L". Although the
> piano is in excellent shape otherwise, it does have a very loud "thump" at
> the end of the pedal release.Damping is fine, trapwork regulation is fine
> as well. The felts are pristeen, although when I return I am going to
> spend some time trying to soften the felt a little to see if that helps.
> 
> The thump is definitly being caused by all the dampers seating at
> precisely the same instant.(both front and rear). Shouldn't the dampers
> lift just slightly tilted front to back(back side lifting first)?
> 
> The owner says that this thump has always been there.Of course, any grand
> damper set will make noise on a rapid release of the pedal but this is
> REALLY loud. To make matters worse, the piano is in a large open room,
> hardwood floors, NO furniture or drapes and 12 foot ceilings.
> Any thoughts,tips, suggestions?
> 
> Paul E. Dempsey, RPT
> Piano Tuner Technician
> Marshall University Music Dep't
> Marshall Univeristy