Conrad Hoffsommer wrote: >It has come to my attention, privately, that there exists a difference of opinion, or even NO opinion about direction of leather nap. >Could the factory reps fill me (and our august assembly) in as to the current mfg practice? Don Mannino replies: OK everybody, he _asked_ for the manufacturing point of view, OK? Don't give me no grief! For YC pianos, the nap should be rough during letoff, smooth during return. In practice, we use the same artificial skin material from Japan which is used by another large manufacturer except ours is a slightly different color, which makes it "Young Chang Special Skin." It has a very slight nap, and is marked after pressing with a black line which should face towards the hammer when the knuckle is installed. Aside from Young Chang, I agree with having the nap give resistance during letoff, and be smoother on return. Since the jack has to be in contact with the knuckle at rest, there is some unavoidable friction during return. If the nap is raised during the return of the jack, that will cause difficulty in regulating the repetition lever height precisely. Also, the slight added power supplied by the rougher nap during letoff is good most of the time. Some pianists won't agree with this, as the letoff is a little more thunky (I see the headlines now: MANNINO SAYS ELEVATED NAPS CAUSE THUNKINESS). Teflon helps, but maybe some people just prefer the nap the other way. That's why there's a difference of opinion and some vagueness here. Personally, I prefer to nap during Sunday golf games on TV. My 3 year old daughter disagrees. Don_Mannino@YCA.ccmail.compuserve.com
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