[pianotech] Damper Felt

[David Love]

I don't know, isn't it kind of like saying I should get a set of hammers
that I don't have to voice.  Listening to Jack Brand and others there seems
to be no question but that making and cutting damper felt is no easy task.
I once watched a damper presentation by one of the old timers from the Mason
Hamlin factory (can't remember his name now).  They cut everything
themselves from sheets with a hand sharpened knife, even those bichord
dampers with the dual overhead slots.  Beautiful work but time consuming no
doubt.  

 

It would be nice to get felt that is just perfect but I haven't seen it yet.
There's always something to tweak.  Buying strips at the conventions is nice
because you can examine the trichord felt and buy a year's supply.  The
bichord and monochord felt isn't such an issue.  I will say that some are
better than others at cutting the flats so that the sides are 90 degrees to
horizontal.  The Tokiwa sets do a pretty good job.   The Laoureux 935T from
the  Schaff catalogue I often use but it's unstitched and unbacked if you
prefer that.  The other issue with sets is whether the thickness of the
flats matches the height of the trichord split dampers when you need to use
them in combinations.   There it's good to have a variety of strips in
different dimensions.  

 

Nothing's easy with damper work.  Underated (and usually underpriced) part
of the job.      

 

David Love

www.davidlovepianos.com

 

From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Ed Foote
Sent: Thursday, April 21, 2011 4:51 PM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: Re: [pianotech] Damper Felt

 

Inre uneven trichord felt, Dale writes: 


>> I think trichord felt from anywhere must come that way. Tokiwa ...the
same deal. I cut the slot deeper and add 1 to 2 pieces of kite string to get
them to work.  If that fails, I use the trusty damper smushing plier on the
fat leg.   

 

I have made them work by pulling the smaller side down with a long needle
inserted lengthwise about 2/3rds of the way up the leg then trimming the
bottom to make both legs even. But I shouldn't have to.  

Ed 

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