thumping dampers

[William R. Monroe]

Well, Rick,

I must say I would be inclined to concur with the pedal being excessively
"thumpy."  I just serviced a Yamaha C1 today.  The thump of the dampers was
really quite bothersome.  No amount of limiting the damper travel would do
anything here.  The felts are in quite good condition, but are a bit firmer
than I usually see.

My gut is that to make the thumping end, you'll need new (different) damper
felts.  In my case, it is definitely the damper felts creating the noise,
but I would check to see what kind of shape the felts in the pedal box are
in and how absorbent they are.  I often find poor felts in the pedal box can
contribute to that thumping noise.

Hope you are able to remedy the problem.

Regards,
William R. Monroe




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Horace Greeley" <hgreeley@stanford.edu>
To: "An open list for piano technicians" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Wednesday, January 11, 2006 8:31 PM
Subject: Re: thumping dampers


>
> Rick,
>
> Putting aside for the moment the "why bother?" that immediately
> springs to mind when recording with an instrument like this is
> mentioned, I generally agree with Dale.  Nothing is going to stop
> noise from the assembly when the foot is simply lifted quickly off the
pedal.
>
> What you might also find helpful is to replace some/most of the
> harder felt and leather stop-blocks in the damper mechanism.  It
> won't fix the whole problem - and - it definitely means that you will
> be revisiting the instrument to replace the softer material which
> wears out much more quickly, it might help.
>
> Hope there is something of value for you here.
>
> Best.
>
> Horace
>
>
> At 06:12 PM 1/11/2006, you wrote:
> >    Ahh yes but it could be his pedaling technique.  I've seen some
> > fine pianist with horrible pedal technique.  They can make a
> > nominally set of of quit dampers start to sound like a bass drum
> > specially on a Steinway..which they're not used to.  He probably
> > doesn't need a spring surgery  but quite possibly his technique
> > needs attention....... JMO
> >
> >   Dale
> >Hi Listers,
> >
> >Client with a new Yamaha ga-1 is complaining that the dampers make a
> >thumping noise when his foot is taken off the sustain pedal. He is
> >doing some recording and it is very noticable to him. Other than
> >changing the spring to one with less tension , what would be a
> >solution to his problem?
> >
> >Thanks,
> >Rick Ucci/Ucci Piano
> >
> >
>
>
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> Horace Greeley
> Systems Group
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> Stanford University
>
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>
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>
>