The felt on my old Rippen piano had worn down in several areas. Using simple household items, I crafted a removable mechanism for the felt and added a thick new layer between the hammers and strings. Read on to find out how I did it!
My parents bought this Rippen piano for my brother and I, when I was 5 years old and started pianolessons at the music-school in town. That means that this piano has some serious age (for a Rippen piano). The original felt, having been played on a LOT, was practically worn down in some area’s. some keys had been played much more frequently than others over the years, causing the felt behind them to deteriorate unevenly. This led to an uneven sound, so it was time for a replacement. Take it out!
Most upright pianos come equipped with a practice, or ‘study,’ pedal. Typically, it’s located on the middle pedal when the piano has three pedals or on a sliding handle elsewhere on the instrument. This feature allows the player to significantly reduce the volume, making it perfect for practicing without disturbing others. But volume isn’t the only thing that changes—engaging the study pedal also alters the tone, creating a warmer, more muted sound with less brightness. This softer sound is often preferred in certain settings, such as for background music while studying or sleeping, as it’s less prominent and more soothing.
The study pedal works by lowering a strip of felt between the hammer and the strings. When the keys are played, the hammer strikes the felt instead of directly hitting the strings, resulting in a gentler, more cushioned tone.
During my last piano tuning session, the tuner gave me a piece of felt he had no use for. It was a thick, uniform strip, with the same thickness on both ends. Typically, piano felt is designed to be thicker at the lower end, where the strings are stronger and thicker, and thinner at the upper end where the strings are more delicate and require less damping. This variation in thickness helps maintain a consistent sound across the piano. But the felt I received didn’t have this gradation, which left me uncertain about how it would sound once installed.
Since I didn’t want to risk ruining the sound, I wanted a way to ‘reset’ the modification if it didn’t work out. The challenge was that the old felt had been glued to the plastic strip attached to the study pedal bar inside the piano, making it impossible to reuse those plastic parts without damaging them. So, what could I use instead?
“But volume isn’t the only thing that changes—engaging the study pedal also alters the tone, creating a warmer, more muted sound with less brightness.”
I needed to find something that could replace the plastic mounting system, allowing me to install the new felt in the piano and easily remove it if the result wasn’t what I wanted. The plastic reminded me a lot of the cable trunking I still had lying around in the garage. Bonus: it even had a self-adhesive strip designed to stick the trunking to a baseboard. But the question was, would the trunking fit on the bar that lowers the felt into place? It did! However, I had to use a utility knife to trim off some of the excess material.
Using the existing felt as a template, I traced its outline onto the new felt and then carefully cut it out. I made the new felt slightly larger to allow for adjustments, as it’s easier to trim down than to add material once it’s been cut.
Attaching the felt to the new plastic mounting system was a walk in the park, thanks to the self-adhesive backing on the cable trunking.
The result is exciting! After playing for half an hour, I’m thrilled with the consistent sound now—no more notes that are louder than others due to worn felt. Additionally, the new felt seems to have a more noticeable impact on the sound. Perhaps because of its thickness, you can hear the hammer striking the fabric more distinctly compared to the old, thinner felt. I’m really pleased with it!
Time for me to test this out for a bit longer. If necessary, I can always revert to the old felt or explore new felt options with different thicknesses. I could even get more inventive—John Cage style—and experiment with materials beyond felt. But for now, that’s not quite where I’m at.
” Perhaps because of its thickness, you can hear the hammer striking the fabric more distinctly compared to the old, thinner felt. I’m really pleased with it!”
I’m curious what you think!
Leave a reply down below and let me know!
Thanks for reading!
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