I am sorry Phillip, but I don't think so. For many years I have fought with this phenomenon and I now know the answer lies in a combination of factors. It is not just this or just that. We have to look at instruments that do not behave like this, generally speaking. Yamaha's for instance usually don't have this problem unless the rep. spring has been regulated extremely tight. If we take a look at the speed with which the Yamaha hammers jump out of the back checks in a brand new Yamaha we can only feel admiration for the way these actions were designed and built. btw, don't misunderstand me, there are quite a few very well built instruments, I just named one of them. I personally have come to the conclusion that the configuration of the action parts should be perfect, and the regulation of these parts too. Then, at last, we do the repetition springs for a second time and make sure that the bass hammers do not jump as fast as the treble hammers. At Steinway (Hamburg) too, they tell you to make all hammers jump out of the back checks in a firm and very lively way, but as soon as we go into the bass section the hammer speed slows down. This also has to do with the size and thickness of the repetition springs which are there at their strongest. In the end, we get all hammers to do what they are supposed to but the fun of our profession is that we keep learning and keep learning and....after a very long time of learning and practice we may have mastered the basic principles of regulation, tuning and voicing, but then we go into the next level of.... making tone. First we have to become masters at moving and positioning the parts, tuning a decent enough tuning, treating hammers the right way.... the next phase is the ultimate goal of the technician : to bring keyboard, action, hammers, dampers and the perfectly tuned strings together in tonal beauty, like a fine tuned orchestra. And then we are going to make 'music'........ friendly greetings from Antares, Amsterdam, Holland "where music is, no harm can be" visit my website at : http://www.concertpianoservice.nl/ > From: "Phillip L Ford" <fordpiano@lycos.com> > Organization: Lycos Mail (http://mail.lycos.com:80) > Reply-To: pianotech@ptg.org > Date: Fri, 15 Mar 2002 17:57:48 0000 > To: pianotech@ptg.org > Subject: Re: Bass hammer checking > > On Fri, 15 Mar 2002 10:40:21 > antares wrote: >> >> Hello Phillip Ford, >> >> To my knowledge it does have to do with the force of the repetition springs, >> the angle of the back check and the condition of back check leather and >> surface of the tails. >> As the springs in the bass section are heavier they are also more difficult >> to control. Most of us have experience with this disturbing behavior of the >> first bass hammers. >> Furthermore, it might be very well possible that the action is in a >> different position on the bench so that the hammers may check at a slightly >> different angle than in the piano. >> I would recommend this : >> >> 1. roughen up the surface of the hammer tails with a file or a knife >> 2. make sure that the back checks have an angle of 72 degrees >> 3. make sure that the hammers in general check as high as possible >> 4. make sure that the leather of the back checks is 'ok' >> 5. make sure that the rep. springs are not tight but do their work properly >> without making the hammers jump >> 6. make sure that the height of the back checks is proper in relation to the >> tails of the hammers >> >> >> >> >> friendly greetings >> from >> >> Antares, >> > Antares, > I wonder if there is something else to add to the list. I have speculated > that one > of the reasons for the poorer checking as you go down the scale is the > presence > of heavier dampers. Some of the pianos that have the most trouble with > checking > also seem to have the heaviest dampers. I've thought that perhaps the damper > was being thrown up by the key, hitting the stop rail, and bouncing back down > against the key with enough force to slightly move the key and throw the > hammer > out of check. Do you think there is anything to this? > > Phil F > > > 2,000,000,000 Web Pages--you only need 1. Save time with My Lycos. > http://my.lycos.com >
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