> One of my costumer has a Kawai piano ten years old >and she tell me that is action is to heavy. After a standard >regulation of the action the feeling is still on the heavy side. >l' found that the captans was under the magic line >for 1/8 of a inch. > >What do you do to corect that? > >Serge Harel >harel@llc.org >Quebec city, Canada Serge, Sometimes a standard regulation is simply not enough to counteract the effects of age and gravity on a piano's action. After ten years of use, perhaps action reconditioning is what your customer's piano needs. The first and most obvious thing to do is to make certain you don't have a friction problem. Polish & lube the tops of the capstans, balanciers and jacks and clean the knuckles with naphtha. You can also put some of Bill Spurlock's teflon powder on the knuckles - it works great!!! You might then check the balance rail and front guide pins (clean & polish) and check keys for tightness, both at the bushings and the balance rail hole. Some Asian pianos are known to have excessive friction at the balance rail hole. You should be able to lift up the front of the key and have it move freely down to its rest position without binding. Don't overease the holes! Also, clean and check the wippen cloth which contacts the capstan - it sometimes gets cupped pretty badly. Proper pinning of hammer centers is, of course, critical. If all the above has been checked and/or corrected and friction is not the problem, I'm really not sure what you can do with existing parts to change the geometry. Perhaps our colleague David Stanwood could give you some hints as to your options. Good luck! Tom Seay The Unversity of Texas at Austin t.seay@mail.utexas.edu
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