Damper Ringing

[Joe & Penny Goss]

Hi Terry,
Yes you tuned the piano causing damper over ring to be more noticable.
Espically if you did a pitch raise.
I am sure that you have checked the damper following the string when you
push the string away from the damper.
Is there room to increase the weight without changing springs or tweaking
the strength?
Joe Goss
----- Original Message -----
From: Farrell <mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Friday, October 06, 2000 7:25 PM
Subject: Damper Ringing


> Had a negative experience today. Don't get many in this business.
>
> I got a call the other day from a lady with a 1972 Story & Clark console
> (good condition) that I had tuned this past August. She said the piano
seems
> louder that before I tuned it and it kinda echos. I figured I must have
> adjusted the damper pedal a bit too tight and the dampers were not fully
> seating. I have tuned the piano twice. I went to the piano today. The
> dampers were indeed not effectively stopping bass string vibration. The
left
> pedal for the bass dampers was a bit too tight - there was no play in the
> pedal. So I let a little play into that pedal and let a bit more into the
> sustain pedal just to be sure that my adjustments were not too tight.
These
> adjustments seemed to make for less ringing, although there is definately
> still more ringing than normal (if I mute the bass strings with my hand
> there is no ringing).
>
> The piano owner says it didn't ring before I tuned it last. I certainly
> don't remember if it did or not. My guess is most people that own console
> pianos would not consider the ringing a problem. But it definately does
> ring. It would drive me nuts (I guess it is!). I told her that I didn't do
> anything with the dampers and it is most likely that they were ringing
> before I tuned it - she just may notice it now because the pedal was a bit
> tight and that made it ring more.
>
> Her bass dampers are just beginning to buzz when you release the key, and
> the damper springs seem quite weak to me. It doesn't suprise me that they
> ring. I told her that to fix it, she would have to replace damper felt and
> springs.
>
> My question is: Is there anything I could have done that has made a
> non-ringing piano have damper leaks? This is really bugging me, because I
> think it is likely that she thinks I goofed up her piano. I always want to
> make right anything I might screw up. Thanks for any thoughts.
>
> Terry Farrell
> Piano Tuning & Service
> Tampa, Florida
> mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com
>
>