Wurlitzer Harmonics

[Richard Moody]

>there are audible harmonics (the owner calls them 'hummings')
caused by leaking >bass dampers.   {Wurli 5'8" grand}

If the damper lever screws were loose I am not sure if this would
matter as much as in an upright.  They may be impossible to get to.
 You can always voice the dampers, run your needle parallel under
the string mark for starters.   I  have never had problems with
"pricking" the felt in dampers with the needle. Did you recently
regulate the dampers to rise evenly?   Some pianos have problems
with tightening the whatever that screw is called on the damper
wire block, it will twist the wire and the damper won't work.  I
can imagine this twisting can take a while, like a couple of days
after the tech has been there, or after a super dry spell in the
"bleak mid winter"   two weeks later.
	 BTW  #68,xxx is 1928. (ish) If you were born in 1928 your dampers
might not work so good either.  Also if the owners give it heavy
usage, they might be ready to upgrade. Hmmm,,, I wonder what a 1998
5'8 Japanese grand would cost?  That would be my recomendation for
the next upgrade from a Wurlitizer. You don't want your clients to
succomb to sticker shock,  neither do you want them to buy a "cheap
brand", unless you want to deal with the same problems or worse in
the next 5 years. ---ric  (the c stands for comission) 

----------
From: Dan Hallett Jr. <dhalle@toolcity.net>
To: Pianotech <pianotech@ptg.org>
Subject: Wurlitzer Harmonics
Date: Friday, February 18, 2000 2:45 PM

Dear List:

I service regularly a Wurlitzer 5'3" Grand (S.N. 68408, purchased
in 1998) that has very heavy usage. Regularly their are audible
harmonics (the owner calls them 'hummings') caused by leaking bass
dampers. After regulation the audible harmonics are gone, only to
reappear in a few weeks.

Has anyone else run into this? I'm ready to start replacing damper
felt, I think, unless there is another solution I'm missing. The
dampers can  be the same or different than those previouly re-
regulated.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Dan Hallett