Disklavier

I found that noises caused by damper pedal drops can be hard to identify. My
previous posting did not mention the six months of trying to solve this
problem. I tried adjusting the height the dampers rose to when played from a
MIDI file. I built an in-line decoder to do this, and set the pedal height
to values ranging from just clearing to maximum. This had little effect on
the noise, even at the lowest height setting. I had figured the dampers
hitting the strings to be the cause of the noise, but this is only a minor
part of it.
 
I then figured the noise was caused by the pedal mechanism hitting bottom. I
fitted a piece of soft rubber under the damper pedal, but all it did was
reduce a mechanical sound in the trap work that was secondary to the whole
problem. Back at the computer, I experimented for months with various fixes.
Spencer's proportional pedalling software was one method, and I also
manually added proportional pedal commands. Nothing worked!
 
I would take a photo to show the offending linkage, but that is not so easy
to do. The actual linkage is in the centre of the keyboard, and we fitted
the extra felt washer by sliding it between the two surfaces. That is, we
punched out a felt washer, then cut it so it could be slid into place, not
dropped on top of the existing washer. The Yamaha tech found the problem by
probing around while manually operating the pedal, and when he poked his
screwdriver between the two surfaces, I knew straight away he had found the
source of the noise. 
 
There could be other things happening in your piano Dmitry that differ from
my experience. But I can assure you that of all the problems I have ever had
with pianos, this one was the most frustrating and difficult to solve. I
hope the information I can at last provide is of some use.
 
Peter

  _____  

From: disklavier@yahoogroups.com [mailto:disklavier@yahoogroups.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, 4 October 2016 11:41 PM
To: disklavier@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [disklavier] Pedal drop sound




Hi Peter, 

Thank you so much for the suggestion! Today I disassembled the piano and got
access to all the its parts.

I have to say I spent some time to press the pedal and try to find the
part(s) which produces the sound. I would say I'm pretty confident that the
sound comes from the dampers when they touch the strings all together. I'm a
bit confused what I can do in this case now. Will try to look at all of this
tomorrow but really don't know what I can find more.

If you have any idea about this it would help me a lot.

Thank you,
Dmitry



On 3 October 2016 at 17:30, 'Peter Phillips' eleced@... [disklavier]
<disklavier@yahoogroups.com> wrote:



  



Pedal drop sounds
Dmitry, I have a Mk 4 C5 Pro, and the pedal noise was driving me mad. I
complained to Yamaha, and a piano tech visited and confirmed the noise I was
hearing was incorrect, so don't let them tell you the noise is normal. The
problem was solved very simply. If you take the piano action out, you will
see the push rod from the pedal trap work connecting to the dampers. There
is a felt washer between the two surfaces, and this washer has flattened to
the point where it was no longer effective. We cut another washer from thin
felt, and placed it on top of the other washer. Problem completely solved.
 
Apparently the sound, though minor in itself, is amplified by the acoustics
inside the piano. I had previously tried slowing the dampers by using
Spencer Chase's proportional pedal software, but nothing was going to solve
this problem other than a felt washer. Good luck with it, and you will be
amazed at how silent the pedal can actually be. 
 
Peter Phillips (Sydney)

Peter Phillips

(02) 9773 4734 <tel:%2802%29%209773%204734> 

web: www.petersmidi.com