A damper system for the books
On the menu today is an 1875 Steinway damper system with one of Steinway's first sostenutos. It had leaky dampers that needed regulation. Let's dive in...
It goes without saying that most technicians don't adjust damper systems from the late 1800's very often. When I encountered this 1875 damper system it had me perplexed from the very start. It has levers and wires and all that but what it didn't have were damper block screws. You know, the little screws that hold the damper wires in the damper lever blocks. It did have a few screws but only at the ends of each section. The rest of the damper wires were threaded like screws that screwed into the damper blocks. HUH?! After an hour I realized how this thing was engineered and what I was supposed to do.
Please feel free to take a minute and see if you can figure it out.
The big clue were the damper block screws at the ends of each section. Obviously the threaded damper wires need to be screwed in or out to adjust the lift. I realized that if you move the damper up-stop rail completely out of the way you can lift a damper high enough above it's neighbor to spin it left or right. Because the dampers at the ends of the section have a plate strut in the way they can't be rotated like the others, hence the damper block screws. Piece of cake right? Not so fast.
I called Dave Kirkland at Steinway who confirmed my assessment of this damper system. He gave me a little history and reiterated the adjustment procedure. It was his reaction to the presence of a sostenuto that let me know that I was in for difficult times. he explained that in order to be able to raise the damper levers high enough I needed to remove the sostenuto entirely. Not only that, but I needed to unscrew the whole damper tray so I could then remove the damper up-stop rail. I then needed to reinstall the damper tray, make the necessary adjustments, take the damper tray back out again and put it all back together. Really?!
So, how did it go you ask? I recommend a new damper system instead. Because sometimes, it's just not worth it.
Got a nightmare story like this one? Send it in or leave it in the comments.