Hello,
this may seem like an obvious questions, especially from a piano teacher!

When you look inside an upright piano you see dampers against the strings - except for the highest section of strings. Why is that? Are they located elsewhere, or just not there, and why?

Thank you...

They just are not needed. The vibrations from the short strings die away very quickly even without damping.

Incidentally this is why, when a chord is played with the notes NOT absolutely together it is much more obvious in the high register than in the middle and lower registers. [i.e. the first note struck has lost so much of its volume that the sounding of the second note an instant later is relatively louder and more obvious]

Moral for piano teacher: to get your students to play chords with precision - have them practice on the high notes.

(Still angling for points in "Most Useful Poster" )

They don't have them. I think it is because the sound decays so fast on the high strings they're not needed

I often, sometimes, well almost never wonder about the transition in sound when playing around the last strings which have dampers and the next above which don't.

On the mechanical side, maybe there is a problem with the space available at the upper end - i.e. the position of the damper row vis a vis the bottom end of the top strings?

Thankyou all! And janexxx I love your use of the word 'decay', it has a very Rossetti feel to it.

I try and talk to students about things like dampers (and transition thereof, from now on) so that those who aren't yet convinced they need to practice on an actual piano feel they are missing something.

Do any manufacturers put them on or is it a convention accepted across the board? Only I feel that at half the octave after the last one could use them on some pianos, especially for when you want to play stacatto "way up there".

Just an idea, but it may also lend a slight resonance to the lower strings, or a slight richening of tone, to have the highest strings sympathetically resonating, and because they decay so fast there is no 'muddling' of the sound to contend with. Does anyone think this would make a difference?

Yes I think this is probably correct - Faziolo pianos have short sections of free string on all the strings that are free to resonate.

Like your idea about chords, MT.

Would this explain, or possibly be related to, the reason why the top octave and a half (or so) of my piano seems to have a permanent pedal at the moment? Or is my piano just very sick?

It does explain it, and it is absolutely normal

Err, how is it normal when a) It only started doing it six months ago and b) other pianos don't do it. Maybe I haven't explained it properly. Maybe I am going mad, and other pianos do do it!

Have you had a look inside? Look for (probably 3) large brass thumbscrews securing the mechanism in place. Sometimes they can vibrate loose. Check that they are reasonably (hand) tight - especially the one at the extreme right?

Moley
N.B. This qualifies as a useful post!

Thanks! I will check tonight and report back. Yes, I shall send you some votes right now. You will be getting 7.

Shameless

And I guess it also explains why staccato scales suddennly don't sound like true staccato after a certain note ...

Desperation, more like!