Grand Dampers

[John Delacour]

At 11:03 am -0300 22/8/07, John Ross wrote:

>I have to use two different sets to make the one. They go really 
>narrow at the treble, so the normal tapered strip doesn't work.
>I read that the stitched damper acted quieter/better than the flat pads.
>It is a Heintzman Semi-Grand, and they knew what they were doing, 
>that is why I want to stick as close to the original as I can.
>They wouldn't have 'penny pinched', on dampers.

Except for the occasional run-of-the-mill upright I always make my 
own "stepped" dampers.  You can see roughly how I do it here -- I 
haven't bothered to write an index file so you'll need to view the 
pictures one at a time and then return to the index with the back 
button:

<http://pianomaker.co.uk/damper_pictures/>

No stitching is involved and most of the old makers produced the 
winged profile in the way that I do, at least in Germany.

Very few makers put plain flat felt on the treble dampers and I never 
do for two reasons: 1. The pressing of the felt renders it much more 
stable and prevents it going askew and 2. most importantly I think, 
the stepped felt allows an expert player to achieve half-pedalling 
effects that are not possible with the flat felt.

JD