Great story Jeff. I couldnt aggree more with your experiences here. One point about teflon and hammer centers... Its true IME that you can achieve less friction for same firmness. I generally increase firmness with that gain tho. I like 4 to 7 swings as a general rule for play concerns... and I like as firm as I can possibly get away with for voicing concerns. I dont see reducing action friction to near zero levels as a positive at all. RicB Jeff Tanner wrote: > > Jim Busby wrote: > >You can make the action work by making sure rep. spring is not too > >strong and by periodically roughing the tails, but conventional wisdom > >says we need proper friction in the right places to make an action feel > >and work correctly. Right?? Any thoughts on this? > > As I sat in the Steinway classes on Thursday at the Convention, and > listened to Eric Schandall, Ron Connor, and Kent Webb talk of 1-4 grams of > friction, I was reflecting back to last fall when our newest piano faculty > member, quite a player with an impressive resume, asked me to do something > with the light action on our most preferred D, an 8-year-old gem. I knew > what she was asking. She couldn't control a pianissimo. > > I brought the action back to the shop. The hammers were swinging about > 15-20 times. The flanges would not hold the screws without falling. It > had been a couple of years since they'd been repinned and I knew what the > problem was. I repinned the hammershank flanges with 4-8 grams of > resistance, and cranked the rep spring tension up so that the hammers would > rise. There's no worry about bouncing at the top with that much friction, > and I've not had a problem yet with repetition. > > When her Russian accent exclaimed the word "MAGICAL", I knew I had earned > her trust. Checking problems vanished. She raved about the voicing I had > done (none of course, except for repinning the flanges). Again, in her > Russian accent, "you see, you have made this a wonderful instrument." > > And just in time for her debut recital that evening that people are still > talking about a year later. > > Just last week, after her rehearsal with the USC orchestra, she asked if we > could move that piano over next door to the Koger Center Performing Arts > Center for the concert. (I'm not the tech for the Koger piano) Not > something we've ever done, but we did it for her this time. You should > read the review of her performance. > > Granted, the hammers are light on this instrument, I was getting about 48 > grams downweight after the repinning. > > (Back to the convention) I couldn't imagine being able to control an > action with the friction parameters they were telling us were the ideal. > However, they HAVE increased the weight of the hammers for tonal reasons. > I assume the new friction parameters are an effort to offset the heavier > hammer weight, although I think Steinway has long advocated 1-4 gram > parameters. But what they claim makes lower friction possible is the > impregnation of teflon in the bushing. It's still quite firm, but there's > little friction there. > > I haven't run into a new one yet with the new standards you are describing, > and though it would seem to me that the "new" way just couldn't possibly > result in enough friction for good control, that is from my experience with > actions before the changes had been made. I think I'd give a watch-and-see > before I tried to use old techniques on Steinway's new design, and if > you're still having problems, let the techs at Steinway hear about it. I > got the impression they are making an honest effort to hear what we in the > field have to say. > > My thoughts. > Jeff > > Jeff Tanner, RPT > Piano Technician > School of Music > 813 Assembly ST > University of South Carolina > Columbia, SC 29208 > (803)-777-4392 > jtanner@mozart.sc.edu > > _______________________________________________ > caut list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives -- Richard Brekne RPT, N.P.T.F. UiB, Bergen, Norway mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/ricmain.html http://www.hf.uib.no/grieg/personer/cv_RB.html
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