Can an old Thorens Table be "Over Dampend" to the point where sound is adversely effected?

Thanks all

 for all the input! 

So here is the "whole story":  I actually dampened my 125 Long Base on the new Birch Base Plate and all interior walls that I could safely reach It was quite a bit and I was quite proud of myself and my work, that was until I played my first record...a record that I listen to often and know very well.  What can I say the sound lost it's dynamics, Soundstage and worst of all it's verve!  I was nervous I jacked up my stylus or worse my new pre-amp (EAR-834P) it was THAT BAD, so I tried a few other albums that I know to no avail and it was all BAD!  So I re-traced my steps and it came back to the dampening job that I was so proud of.  So the next step was to open her up and remove all the damping that I did, put her back together and tried listening again and, thank the Audiogods, the magic had been restored!  The same Dynamic expansive soundstage was back and most importantly the verve was restored!  I was very surprised that the dampening affect on the sound of my 125 was so different than the sound on my 145!  The 145 came alive while the 125 died.  So the lesson here is damping DOES affect sound and one size does not fit all so let those with direct experience on your particular project be your guide!  And yes I was told it [damping] was not necessary on this Table by its restorer but I did it anyway...Lesson learned.

Damping is always present to some degree in any real system. Without it, there would be no way to limit the amplitude of a resonance. The materials employed to provide damping, the ratio of these materials to those elements that need damping, and the method in which they are applied, all determine how effective any scheme is at reducing broad-band vibrations. However, you cannot mechanically "over-damp" a structure or component that is not designed to be a transducer. You can over-damp some circuits electrically; you can over-damp the "Q" of a speaker as well. You can also over-damp structures associated with a phono cartridge: a tonearm, plinth, etc. But you cannot over-damp a preamp's chassis or an equipment rack.

A lot of people like to dampen these older Thornes tables either on the interior of the wooden plinth or all over the inner metal spring board, and arm board, they use things like "Blue Tac" or that Dynamat stuff in car doors. It will kill the sound and rob the life out of the music.

Despite what some here have been propagating for years....over-damping of turntables, arms etc is not only possible, but can deleteriously affect the sound.