Sudden damper buzz syndrome

[ed440 at mindspring.com]

Geoff-

I recently had excellent results de-sizzling upright dampers using a buzzing electric tooth brush - not the oscillating or rotating type, but the kind that buzzes at middle C.  It did a thorough job of opening up the felt without tearing or lifting.  

If you raise the damper stop rail on a grand, you can probably lift the dampers enough to get the toothbrush under and buzz them to de-sizzle without removing them.  Maybe even an ordinary manual toothbrush could work this way....

Ed Sutton....tool fool of pianotech

-----Original Message-----
>From: Geoff Sykes <thetuner at ivories52.com>
>Sent: Nov 19, 2006 2:06 PM
>To: 'Pianotech List' <pianotech at ptg.org>
>Subject: RE: Sudden damper buzz syndrome
>
>Stephen --
> 
>Thank you for including Jim's message in your reply. It appears as if my
>trusty spam filter prevented me from ever receiving it. 
> 
>Thanks to Jim, Stephen and David for this suggestion. Yes, it is definitely
>a case of sizzling dampers. And their being hard and/or crusty was what I
>was thinking. How to go about remedying that was what I was looking for and,
>once again, this listserver has come to the rescue. 
> 
>Fortunately this client is a decades old friend, and he is also aware that
>this is not the result of anything I did. He's aware that piano's require a
>bit of sorcery once in a while, and "oinking" the dampers sounds like the
>right solution. And fortunately it's not a difficult procedure. 
> 
>Thanks everyone!
> 
>-- Geoff Sykes
>-- Assoc. Los Angeles
> 
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
>Of Stephen Papastephanou
>Sent: Sunday, November 19, 2006 8:33 AM
>To: Pianotech List
>Subject: Re: Sudden damper buzz syndrome
>
>
>I had the exact same experience with a Yamaha C7 and the cure prescribed
>below cured immediately the problem.
>S.P.
>
>On 11/19/06 12:15 AM, "WilsonianJ at aol.com" <WilsonianJ at aol.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>Dear Geoff,
>
>I have a sneaking suspicion that the dampers are "crusty" and are "sizzling"
>upon contact with the strings.   Your client may have only now noticed after
>listening more intently to your tuning.   I highly doubt that the issue was
>caused by your tuning, but your client may believe differently. The quick
>fix for sizzling dampers is to remove the damper and soften the felt a bit.
>It doesn't take much so if you very conservatively scratch the surface of
>the felt, you should ameliorate the problem.   Roughing up the felt too much
>will cause leaking dampers. Try it on one or two first to see if that's the
>problem.   
>
>Good luck, Geoff,
>
>Jim Wilson, RPT
>L.A. Chapter
>
>
>
>In a message dated 11/18/06 7:34:07 PM, thetuner at ivories52.com writes:
>
>
>Greetings all --
> 
>Last week I tuned a customers Kawai grand piano. The customer was out of
>town so he left me a key to his studio. He returned the other day and while
>he is happy with the tuning and the other repair work I completed he
>mentioned that all the wound strings are now exhibiting a buzz when the
>damper comes into contact with the played string. Once the damper has
>completely engaged the buzzing stops and the strings damp correctly. He says
>it is objectionably noticeable only on the entire wound bass string section
>of the piano. This is not something that I noticed while I was there so I'm
>curios as to your thoughts on what could have caused this and what I might
>be able to do to affect a timely fix. FWIW, he lives a couple of miles from
>the beach but has a DC de-humidifier installed. The piano also lives in a
>small, relatively well sealed but otherwise non-climate controlled garage
>studio.
> 
>-- Geoff Sykes
> -- Assoc. Los Angeles.
>
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>-- 
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