Steinway damper

[Jon Page]

At 07:24 AM 05/08/2000 -0400, you wrote:
>I was servicing a very ornate Steinway D (hand painted/carved/gold in-laid)
>in an exclusive  restaurant and noticed ugly fishing weights glued securely
>on top of  several damper heads. Some of the dampers had two weights one on
>front and the other at the back.  The dampers seem to work OK so I left them
>alone (I'm no fool).
>
>My question is: Is this a last-ditch, acceptable repair technique or an
>amateurish attempt to quiet  ringing dampers?  I would think that a damper
>problem on such a piano could/should be solved in a more professional way or
>at least put the weights inside the underlever system. Does it ever come to
>a point where this technique is necessary?   I've always WANTED to solve it
>this way, but questioned whether it is  an acceptable repair technique.
>Did I miss a chapter in my piano-tech edjication?
>
>Phil Ryan
>Miami Beach
>
>

This is a band-aide fix. It is treating the symptom and not the problem.
The probable reason it_is_there, is that the owners do not want to spend
the money on a proper repair. Either that or a musician taped on the weight.

I've seen lead fishing weights crimped onto the damper wire. Once the owners
were fed up with the mickey-mouse repairing, I found tight centers. Once 
repinned
and assist springs installed, everything is fine.

If it is within their budget, a Renner USA underlever replacement would be 
the best
solution.

Regards,
Jon Page,   piano technician
Harwich Port, Cape Cod, Mass.
mailto:jonpage@mediaone.net
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~