Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Tuner-Technicians Forum Damper Question

I posted this in another forum, but realized this was the better place to ask:
While playing my K3, I notice the damper action from c5-f5 seems less than robust. The damper works,and lifts off the strings but the tones dont have the rich (singing) tone... more of a flat effect, or the tones seems to fade rather quickly... any ideas?

are the dampers lifting completely off the strings? If they are, it's not a damper problem, it's a sustain problem.

Hi, Could someone please advise how to regulate my Kawai Grand piano dampers? The dampers do not all lift at the same time when the pedal is pressed slightly. They eventually all come up. How is this adjusted? By turning the capstan screws or adjusting the damper wire? Thank you!

Mike: part of the answer is "not simply by visual examination". Is the damping time uneven when the pedal is putting the dampers back down?

No, the dampers all work fine - the piano is 4 years old. They are just slightly uneven in lifting at the early stage.

The dampers stop the sound. They have no effect on how "rich" or "singing" the tone is, unless they are not lifting enough to let the strings resonate freely.

There are two seperate questions going on here. Grand damper timing is a job for a professionals' professional. They can be fiddlesom. That's why they are the way they are now I doubt they came out of the factory that way. Fred Drasch said that, in the history of Steinways there have been 3 suicides, all of them dampermen. Of course,many Steinways are resonant in a way that no other piano is and that depth of tone takes skill to shut off effectively. German factories extend the Teutonic legends to include grand dampers, they believe you have to kill your father and mother before you can become good at dampers.
The uprite sustain problem could be on the strings. Try plucking one with a plectrum or credit card with the dampers clear of the strings. If you get a clear sustain the strings are ok. If not, it's a basic tone regulation(voicing) issue-a job for an expert. If there is no sustain it is most likely strings. Again a job for an expert.