Damper Lift

Damper Lift Before Work

 For those that don't know, the purpose of the Dampers on a piano is to stop the strings ringing once a note has been played.  On a grand, you can see the dampers on the top of the strings when the lid is up. They sit on the strings themselves, a look like a row of shiney black objects, with a white fluffy felt underneath which is in contact to the strings.

These dampers are connected to wires, which run vertically down into the piano itself, to a mechanism called the damper lift.  It is this mechanism I restored next.

This Should Be Swinging!

 The lift comprises of two wooden planks topped with felt, on which are the wooden parts which the dampers' wires are inserted.  I have pictured one to the left on the photo "this should be swinging."  I have given it this dubious title because, as the photo suggests, the joint on these had completely siezed up.  It was a wonder the dampers were working at all!  You can just make out on the photo two little red dots.  These dots are a little tiny metal pin, which is surrounded by red cloth.  These act as the hinges for most joints in a piano action.  There should be a little resistance in them, but nowhere near the amount to make this photo possible!  This is a common problem in piano's where the notes are sticking, or are sluggish.  The red felt has expanded, probably due to changes in humidity, and is gripping onto the pin, causing unwanted friction.  Plus, the pin may have corroded with age.  All the pins in this piano action will be changed.  Doing the math, there are several hundred of these joints in a piano action.  This will take some time!

Punching Out the Old Pin

 First of all, all the old worn out pins will be removed, by pushing them old with a specialist tool.  A new pin size needs to then be selected.  This pin size is quite critical for making sure the action will work properly, and there are several things that the technician needs to consider before selecting the correct size which I will not go into detail here.  However, I will say that the original size of pin needs to be changed, due to wear and tear over the years changing the shape of the hole, and the process of pushing out the old pin.

One Centre Pin

Checking the Friction with a Gauge

Cutting Off the Excess Pin

 Once a pin size is selected, the red felt is reamed out to the precise size needed to accommodate the new pin and generate the perfect amount of friction vs. free play.  (I forgot to take a photo of reaming the felt.)
The pin is then lubricated (some technicians use hair grease for this!  It works surprisingly well actually...) and then is inserted into the part, being very careful not to accidentally push out the red felt.  After this, the friction is tested with a gauge to make sure all is well, and then the protuding end of the pin is snipped off.  The job is complete!

Also on the damper lifters, there are little pieces of green felt on the nose of each.  All this felt was removed and replaced as it had become worn and uneven.  On the damper lift main wooden plank too, the felt had become worn, and wouldnt have eliminated the noise of the damper lifts as they returned back to position fully.  This was replaced by new felt, which was ironed first.

Ironing certain felt is quite useful in piano actions.  Once the piano is assembled, the felt will "bed in" and compress as it takes the weight of the part it is pressing against.  Ironing the felt before applying it to the parts compressses the felt before it goes onto the part and therefore reduces the need for further regulation after the piano is complete..  After that, it was a case of screwing on all the parts back together again and the job was complete!  Looking good, and fully operational damper lift!

Ironing the New Felt

Cutting Felt to Correct Size

Damper Lifters Complete!

 One other note I should make on this post which may be brought to attention in later posts too.  I am using quite poor terminology in a lot of these posts.  For example, the correct name for the "red felt" is bushing cloth, and the pins are called centre pins, etc..  However, to keep things simple for those readers who know less about pianos than others, I am trying to keep things visual rather than technical.  So to my piano tuning buddies reading this, apologies if I refer to something as a "swingy thing" or "red bit"... after all, this is only a blog for interests sake... not as an actual restoration guide!!

One other thing that has made me think of too.  Anyone out there reading this who is thinking "hey, this doesnt seem to bad, I might go and rebuild my dads prized Steinway"  please, for the love of God, DONT!  There are copious amounts of figures and calculations I havent included in the blog, and different bits and bobs which I am neglecting to blog about because they wouldn't be particularly interesting to read about.  All of which are crucial to making a piano work.  Not only that, but every piano, even those made by the same manufacturer, are assembled differently.  This process alters from piano to piano depending on the design and condition of the instrument.

If you restore a piano based on these blog entries YOU WILL WRECK YOUR PIANO!

You have been warned.

New (Red) Felt on the Damper Lift Rail

The Restored Damper Lift