Renner Wippens

[BDeTar@aol.com]

Add another voice to the "Yeah, they're loose".  When I was rebuilding, I
used Renner parts quite a bit.  I always measured the flange resistance with
a gram guage (made by Correx) to ensure consistency.  In the early days, I
was really pleased by the fact that the flanges had so consistently 1 - 2
grams of friction with no lateral play due to the dense bushing felt.

So, imagine my amazement when, after rebuilding the action of a Steinway "D"
and being very pleased with the light downweight and only slightly high
upweight, I was informed several hours before the concert (he was very late)
by the pianist (you would all know him) that he liked the fact that the
action was very even and easy to play, but he was unable to play SOFT!!
 Imagine that.  I give him the perfect rebuild and HE says HE can't control
it when he trys to play soft.  Fortunately (for me), I didn't say what I was
thinking.  Instead, I asked him to explain to me, as simply as he could, HOW
he plays soft.  What ensued was a tremendous learning experience for me and a
successful (yes, even when he played soft) concert.

To illustrate what happened, let's try an experiment.  Let's say I stand you
in front of an open door and I ask you to push the door just hard enough to
make it stop on a line marked on the floor.  Now, unbeknownst to you, I have
installed newly developed, frictionless air bearings.  Having pushed
(slammed) a couple of doors in your time, you figure you know about how hard
you need to push the door to get it to stop where you want it to.  Much to
your surprise, the door slams against the wall leaving notice for all that
you were there.  After several more attempts, each one pushing softer, you
find it impossible to stop the door at the line.  It continues to hit the
wall, albeit softer.

Now, we introduce our GOOD friend, CONTROLLED friction.  Voula!!  Within a
couple of tries, you're stopping the door on that line like Jordan swishing
free throws from 3 feet!

The point here, is that too little friction can be as bad as too much
friction.  Our goal, then, is to provide consistent, controlled and
calculated friction within the action.

So....back to the concert....how did I give him an action with controlled
friction all too shortly before the concert started?  I removed every other
flange which gave me access to lick (why the piano remains annonymous!!) each
bushing.  This introduced enough friction that he could gain control over
even the softest note.  No, this was not a permanent solution.  I was in the
next day and repinned all the flanges.  The touch weight changed slightly
(about 3 more grams DW and a little less UW if I remember correctly), but it
turned out that it changed for the better.  The other surprise, is that the
piano SOUNDED better (save that for another discussion)!!  From that point
on, I repinned most of the flanges I used when rebuilding or troubleshooting
actions.

So the moral of this seemingly long agreement, is:

There must be BALANCE in all things !!!   :-)>

Hope this brought a nod or two and maybe even a grin!!

Brian De Tar  RPT