Weighty Problem

[Gregory Torres]

Dear Lunytuner,

How about weighting the keys? I think there is an article in the Journal
somewhere or maybe one of the resident list experts could shed more light on
the subject???

I have thought about it myself and have been asked the same question from
some of my clients. I think there used to be or might still be available
sets of weights that you can screw onto the top of the keys just behind the
key buttons, thus increasing the down weight. You can adjust by sliding the
weights forward or backward to achieve the desired resistance. I have never
done this to a whole set but I and other techs have used this technique for
helping keys return in cheaper pianos where the absence of key weights
causes this problem. Any body else?

Regards,
Greg Torres

Maurer family wrote:

>          My client has a Yamaha U1 (upright) that I service regularly.
> This piano has been very consistant and my client has been very happy
> with it. On my last service on this piano though, the lady asked me a
> question that I usually don't hear very often. She asked if I could make
> the action heavier. It seems that her son, who is the pianist at the age
> of 12, has become quite good . He entered his first piano competition
> and had great difficulty playing on the competition piano. It was a
> grand that was at a local piano dealer's recital hall. I assume that it
> was a Steinway because he is a Steinway dealer.
>  Anyway , the boy complained that the piano played exceedingly heavy and
> that he couldn't play his chosen piece properly. Apparently none of the
> participants could rehearse on this piano , so they had to play cold
> turkey.
>         I explained the major differences between her U1 and a full
> sized grand and that if her son continued to become more accomplished
> on the piano that she really should consider upgrading. Her response was
> that they didn't have enough room for a grand , much as thay would like
> to have one. Then she reitorated her question.
>         My experience with action improvement has always been with
> trying to make actions play easier ,or should I say with as little
> frictional resistance as possible. How can I solve this customers
> problem without radically changing what I find is a fine working action?
>
>                             Tunefully,
>                                     Cliff Maurer (Lunytuner)