Mark Ritchie Wrote: >I have what I think is a 1930 Steinway B with a Teflon action >that has been installed / serial # 272377. >The action feels like a truck down weight started out at 85 gr. >with an up weight of about 40 - 41 gr. With some weight removed >from hammers and shanks and some other friction problems - >got down weight to 69 gr. there are still a lot of problems. >Question is can this ever work? Mark, The cause of your problem is the action ratio, not the Teflon parts. We are mistaken in the notion that this ratio of key to hammer motion is 1:5. For years I have been studying weight ratios which relate very closely to the distance ratio. On different Steinways the overall ratio can be anywhere from 1:4.8 to 1:8.5. Hammer weight becomes a serious problem when the weight ratio is above 1:6.0 If the parts are in good shape I would recommend keeping them. I would NOT recommend taking extreme amounts of weight off the hammers. This will have the effect of making the tone "Smaller". My advice is to cut off the wip heels and move the capstan line forward until a position is found where the down weight and UpWeight come down to normal levels. Use new heels that are of a dimension that maintains the capstan/heel contact point on a straight line between the wip flange and the balance point of the key at half stroke. I am assuming that you have a high friction despite flange friction being at normal levels. This problem will disappear when you increase leverage by moving in the capstan line. I can qualify this technique by saying that I have been professionally leverage calibrating actions for years and have fixed many Teflon actions with splendid results. I am working on a technicians guide to action balancing which will be available by this summer. In the meantime I offer seminars on the subject. In my business I provide total blueprint and balancing services for grand actions. You can ship the action to me or to Pianotek (ask for Bob Marinelli). Also David Barr in Pittsburgh will be offering the service soon as a licensed installer of Stanwood Touch Design Systems. Please feel free to contact me privately about this. Suggested reading: "The New Touchweight Metrology" PTG Journal, June 1996 by David C. Stanwood. Good Luck! David C. Stanwood
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