Regulating Woes

[Jim Coleman, Sr.]

Hi Terry:

Did you install new butt felts? If they are too thick, this will change your
action ratios radically. 

If the action has wire-dowel type captstans, having the dowels contact
the wippen cloth too far forward can cause the action ratios to change,
requiring more keydip and/or less hammer blow.

Jim Coleman, Sr.




On Fri, 16 Jul 1999, Terry Beckingham wrote:

> Hi List,
> 
> I am having some difficulty regulating a 1919 Doherty 56" upright. I have
> done considerable work on this piano including soundboard repair,
> restringing including new bass strings, new hammers, etc. I have set sample
> hammer blow at 1 3/4", letoff at 1/8" and hammer checking at 5/8". I am
> getting insufficient escapement with those dimensions. I started with 7/16"
> (11 mm) key dip and that isn't sufficient. I get only about 1/32"
> escapement. I tried setting the blow at 1 5/8" but there was no appreciable
> improvement. Increasing the dip to 12 mm will give me about 1/16"
> escapement, but that dip feels too deep for my liking. Increasing letoff to
> 3/16 seems to me to be the only solution but I feel that this is too great a
> distance.
> 
> Does anyone have any suggestions?
> 
> Thanks in advance
> 
> Terry Beckingham
> Associate Member 
> The Pas, Manitoba. 
> Canada
> 
>