Lighten Touch

[jolly roger]

Hi Ed,
           Just to add to Newt's sage advice,  don't forget the rep spring
slots on older pianos, the old lubricant  will have set rock hard, and is a
major cause of friction and touch weight problems.   Flat knuckles can also
be a major problem.  You can use a 1/4" strip of 120 grit sand paper and
draw file them to get some shape back,  then use teflon powder to lub.
These two things can dramatically lower the touch weight. And is often the
biggest bang for your buck on a well worn action that is heavy.
Add this to your C, C# samples.

A good learning practice to get into, is to re measure parameters after
each step.  Before too long you will start to position many of the problem
areas in your mind.

Roger


At 07:55 PM 8/15/01 -0400, you wrote:
>Take careful up and down measurements of all the "C"s and all the "C#"s.
>
>Break the static friction by knocking on the action with your hand.
>
>Carefully clean the action, polish (use super fine metal polish like
Flitz) and
>lubricate the key pins, capstans, rocker cushions and the wippen tops
under the
>knuckles.  
>
>Regulate the action carefully then remeasure the up and down weights.
>
>Half the difference between the two is the friction.  That should go down
into
>the 10 to 12 gram region in the base and into the 6 to 8 grams in the treble.
>
>The average of the two is the balance weight and it needs to be in the 35
to 40
>gram range.  If it is lower it will not repeat well and if it is higher it is
>"over weight" and more serious looks at the geometry and other
measurements need
>to be made.
>
>Start with this and report back when you get the first set of measurements.
>
>		Newton
>