1999 Steinway L with heavy action

[Mark Davidson]

Hmm.  I had the tail up, not down, but the other end was resting on the
flange, not knuckle.
Shank level. I see the tail should be down, but weightwise should be the
same, no?

I have a good gram scale, although I don't have all the jigs Stanwood
recommends.
I used a stack of cassette boxes and playing cards to make the flange end
level.

I did notice a strange tendency that if I gave a hammer a little sideways
push while
it was resting on the scale it seems to introduce some tension that the
scale recorded
as weight (up to half a gram).  So I lowered the hammer onto the scale
several
times and took the lowest number I could get consistently.

I think the strikeweight numbers and frontweight numbers are definitely
usable.

I just rechecked the key dip - I had only checked 3 or four notes in the
middle of the piano
previously.  It is set to .38"/9.7mm at the ends of the keyboard and is
deeper in the middle.

I realize this doesn't make sense, since high ratio implies less blow needed
for a given
key dip, and blow isn't that great.  Again, I only checked one note for
blow.

I think it's probably a regulation issue that is causing the curve in the
strikeweight line.
Perhaps I need to re-regulate and remeasure DW/UW.  I'll definitely look
into it further.

-Mark



----- Original Message -----
From: "David Love" <davidlovepianos@earthlink.net>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>; "Mark Davidson"
<mark.davidson@mindspring.com>
Sent: Saturday, June 07, 2003 7:06 PM
Subject: Re: 1999 Steinway L with heavy action


> Mark:
>
> How did you measure the strike weights?  The flange needs to be turned 90
> degrees to the shank (pointing up) and balanced on the end of the birds
eye
> with the tail of the hammer on the scale.  Did you, by chance, balance the
> shank on the knuckle and the hammer tail?
>
> David Love
> davidlovepianos@earthlink.net
>