Regulating Woes

[Terry Beckingham]

At 08:32 AM 7/19/99 -0400, you wrote:
>
>
>To the list and Terry,
>
>I think I may have gotten more from following this quest ion than Terry did.
>The responses where very informative, especially the tip about
repositioning the
>capstans under the whippens.  I have one more question for Terry with regard to
>setting the letoff.  You said you replaced the felt at the bottom of the
>whippens (I often do that myself) but what about the letoff button felt?  When
>you are trying to regulate the letoff to very close tolerances this can be a
>problem, no?

Hi John and list,

No, I didn't replace the felt on the bottom of the let-off buttons.
Regulating the letoff was not a problem. My problem is that I cannot obtain
enough escapement with 1/8" letoff. Using a combination of increasing
let-off to 3/16", moving the capstans slightly to the rear and using a dip
of 7/16" allowed me to obtain sufficient escapement.

I wonder if anyone out there would have an explanation as to why I am unable
to get sufficient escapement without having to make these changes.

Now the action is very heavy. I get at least 60 grams down weight. I am
having difficulty figuring out why.
I replaced all key bushings. They are a good fit and are not binding.
Balance holes have been eased slightly so they are not binding. Jack tops
have been lubricated. Capstans have been re-graphited and polished. key pins
were polished and lubricated with CLP. Whippen cushions and damper lever
felts have been lubricated with teflon powder and hammer and damper lever
slots have been lubricated with graphite from a pencil. Perhaps the new
hammers are heavier than the old ones.

One additional observation is that after setting the sharp key height, the
key buttons for the sharps are slightly higher than those of the naturals.
Is this normal? The back ends of the keysticks are still level with those of
the naturals. 

This piano has got me tearing out what is left of my receding hair line. 8-)

Regards

Terry Beckingham