Old Steinway upright - new yamaha dampers?

[Newton Hunt]

Hi Mark,

When Steinway installed the damper originally they did so by making
the least possible bends.  The damper levers are the same dimensions
as the originals and the blocks will remain the same.  You will have
to do some left to right bending but little fore and aft bending if
the dampers are approximately the same size.  I plan to use the U-3
dampers when I get to that point and I will make the dampers the same
size, front to back, as the originals.  This may involve adding to or
cutting back the gluing pad of the damper to fit the situation. 
Easier for me than doing a lot of wire bending.

There should be no need to change the dimensions of the stop rail if
the barrel and blocks are the same dimensions as the original blocks. 
Here you may have to cut or add to make them so.  It is critical to
get the lever to occupy the same space as the originals because there
is little room for changing their location, spoon bending and lift rod
relocation.  This action was engineer with real tight space
variations.

Forget trying to do an install 60 miles away.  This job will take far
more time (half again) and far more shop equipment than you currently
envision.  Get the beast into the shop and take you time doing it. 
Not way in or out of the hot place would I consider doing a long
distance job of this nature on an S&S.

Before you do anything you need to get the parts together with the
originals and VERY carefully map out a procedure for each phase of the
job, ON PAPER, count the parts needed, dimension them carefully, then
you can start following you plan.

Lots of luck.

		Newton

Mark Dierauf wrote:
> 
> Newton -
> 
>   And I swore I'd never do another one without a complete parts replacement,
> yet here I am.
>   I wasn't sure from you message if you realized that I'd be getting rid of
> the old blocks alltogether and going with the dowel-type blocks. But since
> the whole idea here is to reduce the amount of labor involved in
> wire-bending, I don't want to end up by building a new spring-rail to
> accommodate any increase in damper dimensions. (Is this what you're alluding
> to in your last paragraph?)Naturally, the Steinway is 60 miles away and the
> Yamaha damper heads are just pictures in a catalog, so I can't take any
> measurements.
> 
> - Mark
> 
> >From: nhunt@jagat.com (Newton Hunt)
> >Subject: Re: Old Steinway upright - new yamaha dampers?
> 
> >Hi Mark, long time no hear.
> 
> >I have one of those beasties and did another one when I swore never to
> >do another,  Ah, well.
> 
> >My recommendation is to keep the old block if at all possible.  The
> >new blocks are not drilled at the same angles as are the original
> >since they are intended to be generic which creates an unbelievable
> >amount of bending.  Mind or without barrels but they are tight as they
> >are and I will disturb them as little as possible.  I have installed
> >new butts so a certain amount of new bending is involved anyway.
> 
> >Keep, restore and barrel the original or make certain the new ones
> >have the same angles as yours.  Little wooden barrels and blocks cane
> >be a problem because of the wire to damper felt dimension.  There is
> >VERY little room for changing the working arcs of the damper levers to
> >you need to be extra careful here.
> 
> >Lots of luck.
> 
> >Newton