[Hagbard]

I have recently acquired an old upright piano.

This instrument is in desperate need of a tune, and is missing a few dampers.

Does anyone know where I can source some dampers, and can anyone give me a rough idea of how much it would cost to have this piano tuned?

Many thanks!

[Gill the Piano]

I'd ask the tuner to do the dampers - it can be a tricky job if you've not done it before and you may need extras like new springs which would necessitate buying a whole packet of them.
As to cost, generally speaking the further from London you are the cheaper it is. Tuners who are independent will be cheaper than tuners from shops because they don't have extra overheads such as VAT, shop rent/rates, staff, etc. Around here - South Buckinghamshire - a tuning is around &40 -&50 and the repairs vary from tuner to tuner. Remember cheapest is not necessarily best, and go by recommendation if you can rather than plucking a name out of the directory! Good luck...

[Hagbard]

Thanks Gill

As some of the dampers dropped off during moving the piano, I've glued 3 of the 5 back on, and they seem to work fine. So I feel confident that I could repair the rest if I could get hold of the parts.

If necessary I can fabricate the wooden part of the damper, but I'm struggling to find a supplier for the felt component.

For reference the dampers look like this:



Does anyone know of anywhere that can supply me with the felt, or better still 10 or so replacement dampers?

Tuning also sounds more reasonably priced than I was expecting!

[Barrie Heaton]

The dampers are German type treble damper heads supply houses in the UK will not supply to the general public with out a lot of arm twisting and they will only supply a full set . Have you looked in the bottom of the piano for the damper heads?

Tuners in the Sheffield area charge 35 to 45 pounds for a standard tuning I would get the tuner in it could work out cheaper as they may only charger a few quid for each damper for a full set of heads you are looking at 150 + none trade price. as Jill said fitting new heads is not as simple as putting the old ones back as they will not be the same size and will have to be re-aliened

But if you still wish to do it your self here is the links to the two UK supply houses
http://www.fletcher-newman.co.uk/
http://www.uk-piano.org/heckscher/

Barrie,
_________________
Barrie Heaton
Web Master UK Piano Page

[Gill the Piano]

If tuning's cheaper than you thought, use the change to get the tuner to do all the donkey work! He/she will know which way up the dampers go (dirty side up...) and will either have some damper bodies knocking around or will have a mate who does. Take the easy way out, save your energy for your piano practice... Gill x

[Melodytune]