Weighty Problem

[Z! Reinhardt]

Do I remember correctly that the U1's capstans are on wire "stalks"?  If
so, you can bend them just a little off-center front-to-back relative to
the whippen to alter the touch without a lot of fuss.  I believe that if
you bent the stalks towards the player, it would add apparent weight to the
action.  There will be a little regulating to do afterwards, but it should
be relatively minor.  If the result is not what you wanted, it's easy to
set things back the way they were.

I saw this demonstrated by one of the Steinway guys at a convention.  The
change in touchweight was verified by a set of weights he just happened to
have in his pocket.

ZR!  RPT
Ann Arbor  MI
diskladame@provide.net

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> From: Maurer family <ab254@oak-web.washington-ch.oh.us>
> To: pianotech-digest@ptg.org
> Subject: Weighty Problem
> Date: Thursday, March 12, 1998 12:26 AM
> 
> 
>          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)
>