trichord damper noise

[Brian Trout]

Hi Mark,

A couple of things came to mind when I read your post.

A technique that I have tried on occasion on dampers with a trichord wedge
on one side and a felt block on the other is to time the damper so that the
trichord side is lifting before the block in an attempt to quiet the 'woosh'
of the trichord felt moving past the string.

Another noise maker that I've found irritating on occasion is the damper
guide rail bushings providing a fairly loud rubbing sound kind of resembling
a 'woosh'.  A little CPL on the guide rail bushings quiets them down quite a
bit.

All pretty basic, and stuff you've probably already tried.

Good luck,

Brian Trout
Quarryville, PA
btrout@desupernet.net

-----Original Message-----
From: bases-loaded@juno.com <bases-loaded@juno.com>
To: pianotech@ptg.org <pianotech@ptg.org>
Date: Sunday, August 22, 1999 8:58 PM
Subject: trichord damper noise


>I service two recording studios in Columbus, Ohio.  The majority of the
>sessions involving the pianos are jazz combos or pop, so there is little
>solo piano work.  However, when a pianist DOES record some solo work, the
>odds are good that he will comment on the noise ('swish') of the damper
>felt rising and falling.  It's something that you rarely notice just
>playing the piano, but listening to the recording of the piano it is
>sometimes quite obvious.  I assume it is the trichord felt.
>
>I was wondering if Ed, or another tech doing a lot of studio work might
>have some insight into this problem.  I have always assumed it was the
>recording engineer's problem to deal with, but if there is anything I can
>do to help, I would sure be interested in hearing any ideas.
>
>Mark Potter
>bases-loaded@juno.com
>