[pianotech] help needed with Hamilton

[David Stocker]

Dampers need: appropriately soft felt; hitting the string nodes at the right spot (longer felts help hit more nodes); springs to make it touch the string; enough mass to help the felt make the string stop moving (longer felts help some there as well). I have a 20's studio in my living room I am about to add some mass to. It was used as a demo for a chapter meeting some time ago. Del Fandrich was talking about this very topic, and we took a fishing lead sinker which has a hole through it, split it open and pinched it onto the wire at the top of the lever. Bam! No more ring through on that note. This piano is only ringing through on the single string notes, and I've been meaning to finish it off for some time now. I've had to do the same procedure on a couple of Chickering Quartergrands with good success.

I would certainly try the other suggestions made. Mass may help.

David Stocker, RPT
Tumwater, WA

From: wimblees at aol.com 
Sent: Monday, February 15, 2010 17:46
To: Pianotech at PTG.org 
Subject: [pianotech] help needed with Hamilton


This is a 40 year old Hamilton. There are two problems. The action is heavy. Everything is regulated the way it is supposed to be. The only thing I can figure out is that the damper springs are too strong. But that leads me to the second problem. Although each note dampens, there is a general after ring in the whole piano. I can get it to stop by putting my hands on the bass string. What I'm afraid of is if I weaken the damper springs, the after ring will get worse. The damper felts are OK, a little noisy, but nothing unusual. I did have to replace one damper flange because the spring had broken due to rust. 


Any ideas?

Willem (Wim) Blees, RPT 
Piano Tuner/Technician
94-505 Kealakaa Str. 
Mililani, Oahu, HI  96789
808-349-2943 
www.Bleespiano.com
Author of: 
The Business of Piano Tuning 
available from Potter Press 
www.pianotuning.com
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