Well, I guess I should tell ya'll what the problem was. The Wippen Heel Felt/Capstan Contact Felt on the Renner built wippens is of an inferior quality. I won't call it cheap, although it's only good enough to put on the sole of my waders. It's just bad felt that is a very course weave, with all kinds of, what looks like, "contaminants", or...some things other than wool, interspersed. My usual procedures include cleaning the contact felt with air pressure and then spraying with Slip Spray. The Air fluffs up the felt and usually cleans it quit nicely. The Slip Spray is Teflon with an Alcohol carrier, which further fluffs up the felt and hopefully makes it slippery. Not so with this felt. Further, the design of the wippen foot does not allow the felt to be "stretched" or tight, in any way. It's just a "lump" of felt setting there, over a firm under-felt. My "fix", which was out of desperation, was to iron the wippen heel felt with my voicing iron, almost to the point of "scorching". I first tried it on some of the worst offenders and it lowered the DW number by at least 2 grams...AND increased the UW by the same amount. Thus putting them within tolerable specs. The customer exclaimed, upon trying out the action/piano: "It's like a NEW piano, only better!" Ah, a sweet sound to my ears and the end of a rather frantic day.<G> Another little trick for the "olde trick bag".<G> Night all! Best Regards, Joe Garrett, RPT, (Oregon) Captain, Tool Police Squares Are I
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