[CAUT] lighter touchweight

[David Love]

Just to offer a slight contrarian view.  I've never found any benefit from
drilling holes in wippens.  I have encountered many actions with holes
drilled out of the wippens to correct a touchweight problem and the
procedure, in my view, is ineffective and probably a waste of time when you
consider what you might use that time to accomplish otherwise.  I will agree
with one thing, and that's that touch weight will not change appreciably.
The amount of weight taken off the wippen is transferred to the key as a
multiplier of the key ratio, usually about .5.  So 2 grams drilled out of
the wippen will only reduce the weight by 1 gram.  Of course, if you take
even a small amount of weight off the wippen and don't change the repetition
spring tension you will get a faster rise.  Would it be faster than if you
just increased the spring tension?  I don't think so.  I've not noticed any
effect on tone.  

Other suggestions about checking friction levels are certainly worth looking
at first.  But with DW in the low 50's and UW near 30, it doesn't sound like
you have a friction problem.  If there is indeed a minimal amount of lead
and weight really is the issue, you could simply reweigh the action (add
lead) to achieve a lower balance weight.  It would be better if that weight
could be added to the balance rail side of the existing leads.  It would be
good to have a real sense of the FW pattern overall but if you are not
familiar with that procedure it will be difficult.  Personally, I would find
a touchweight in the low 50's (balance weight of 40) slightly high though it
is certainly in keeping with modern standards that lean toward heavier
actions.  Having corrected many actions for people who complained about
weight, I've found that high 40's in the middle of the piano has been a
target worth considering.  That would mean reducing your weight by
approximately 4 grams or 8% of the current weight.  That's not insignificant
to a finger.  Though there are occasions where brighter will get confused
with lighter, I wouldn't count on it for a fix.  You might end up with a
still too heavy action and a customer who now doesn't like the tone.      

David Love
davidlovepianos at comcast.net 
www.davidlovepianos.com

-----Original Message-----
From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Horace
Greeley
Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2007 4:50 PM
To: College and University Technicians
Subject: Re: [CAUT] lighter touchweight


Hi, Alan, Don, et al,

At 03:33 PM 10/17/2007, you wrote:
>Alan,
>
>A prediction from me on the swiss-cheese effect:
>- repetition will be snappier and more reliable
>- Tone will be slightly brighter.
>- Measured touch weight will not change appreciably.
>
>I know, it's whacky, but there it is.
>
>I'll look forward to hearing about it.

I've been doing exactly this for years, as part of standard 
procedures, with the results predicted here by Don.

Careful placement and drilling of the swiss cheese will save 
headaches. Sharp Forstner bits help.

Best.

Horace



>Don
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of
>reggaepass at aol.com
>Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2007 2:38 PM
>To: caut at ptg.org
>Subject: Re: [CAUT] lighter touchweight
>
>(snip)
>
>I am considering trying it on an action that I am about to rebuild for
>our piano studio.  Thinking about doing the rebuild w/o the Swiss cheese
>effect, let them play it for a while that way, then pull the wips, drill
>and replace, without notifying the users (piano faculty and piano
>majors).  We'll see if anyone notices an improvement without being
>steered towards it.
>
>Alan Eder