The “Felt Silencer” – an alternative to the hammer stop rail (silent mode)

This article focuses on the solution to the problematic hammer stop rail, which in many cases came faulty from the factory. Some symptoms of the faulty hammer stop rail are:

• stuck hammers
• interfering with the key mechanisms
• uneven touch to the keyboard.

If you have ordered your Keybird with the MIDI function, chances are you received it with the hammer stop rail, otherwise we probably contacted you to ask whether we should remove it. There are some ways to fix the rail itself, but it is much easier to just remove it completely, and proceed with using the “Felt Silencer”. We offer an optional product so that you can experiment with altering the sound of the Keybird. This is called the Felt Bar, or Muffle Bar. This is a simple aluminum profile with strips of velcro taped to it, and attached to the velcro is a piece of fabric or felt. This fabric then goes between the hammers and strings, giving a more muffled, and intimate sound. Experimenting with different sounds on the Keybird in this article If you put a thick enough soft material, or multiple layers of felt onto this aluminum bar, you can achieve the same results as the hammer stop rail, without the compromised key action! Watch this video to see it in action:

With the same results in terms of loudness, the only difference between the hammer top rail and the “Felt Silencer” is instead of the clack-clack sound of the hammer rods hitting the rubber rail, you get a bum-bum sound of the hammers hitting the muted strings, through the thick felt material.

How to make your own “Muffle Bar” and “Felt Silencer” video coming soon!