Seasoning Dampers

[Willem Blees]

I think Spurlock sells a "bag of beans", that can be placed on top of the dampers to weight them down. Personally I have never used anything to weigh them down. If any pressure is needed to make sure a damper fits right, I just use a finger. I believe the weight of the damper lever should be enough to properly seat a damper. But, as Joe mentioned, you have to make sure the strings are level. 

Just my?4 cents worth.


Willem (Wim) Blees, RPT
Piano Tuner/Technician
Honolulu, HI
Author of 
The Business of Piano Tuning
available from Potter Press
www.pianotuning.com


-----Original Message-----
From: Bob Hull <hullfam5 at yahoo.com>
To: 'Pianotech List' <pianotech at ptg.org>
Sent: Sat, 24 May 2008 5:46 pm
Subject: Seasoning Dampers



   Dear Friends, 

   In my early training for rebuilding pianos, I was
taught to make a moderate set of weights to place on
top of the damper heads for newly installed damper
felts.  I used a couple of pieces of pvc pipe with a
small block of wood on top to put on the new dampers
with the intention of helping the new felt conform to
the string.

  However, a couple of weeks ago a well-respected tech
said that other techs and he shared the opinion that
this practice caused problems for them, actually
deforming the felt due to the extra weight.

   I feel like I am spending more time than I should
to get a new set of dampers working effeciently so I
tried this.  At least on the piano I just finished, I
had better results without the seasoning weight. 

What are your experiences regarding this practice?

Thanks,
Bob Hull



      

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