Depowering a Piano

[Barbara Richmond]

Terry,

Here is part of a post that I contributed to back in '95--you can find it in
the archives.  I believe the thread made it into the Journal, but I can't
tell you what year or month.   Also, does the pianist have a monitor?
Sometimes that helps alleviate the problem (and sometimes not!).  I can't
remember how much I backed off the let-off--I used the  recommendations
given to me by the folks at Yamaha.

Good luck!


Re: Samick Grand Bass String ...
Barbara Richmond
Tue, 25 Apr 1995 15:32:37 -0500 (CDT)

<snip>

Seriously, I first saw this piano when it was one year
old--the string cuts were about 3/4 inch.  I shaped the
hammers, regulated it to rob it of as much power as
possible, put lost motion in the damper pedal, softened
what hammer felt was left and managed to slow but not
eliminate the breakage.

<snip>

Barbara Richmond
Illinois Wesleyan University
Bloomington, Illinois


----- Original Message -----
From: Farrell
To: pianotech@ptg.org
Sent: Tuesday, December 30, 2003 3:39 PM
Subject: Depowering a Piano


Yamaha C3, piano bar in nightclub. Serviced every two weeks. Always been a
good piano in very good condition. New piano player for last two or three
months. The guy is a major pounder. Lots of broken bass strings (maybe 10 in
the last two months - never before). The key bushings have also gone from
excellent condition to slapping neighboring keys.

snip

I have seen recommendations for increasing let-off to depower a pounder. I
have never tried that though. Just curious whether anyone has any experience
with the technique I outlined above, and how much dip/blow reduction is best
to adequately depower the piano, but not aggravate the player too much. The
amount I used what just a wild guess on my part.

Terry Farrell