Upright Hammer Shanks

[Joseph Garrett]

I'm in the process of rejuvenation of a really nice Victorian/German
Upright. I just finished installing the Hammer butts and putting  in new
shanks, in prep for the new hammers. As I was knurling shanks furiously, I
started to notice a difference in the look/feel of each shank, as I knurled.
I decided to sort them in two groups of perceived hardness/lightness. When I
got done with the knurling, I decided to weigh off the respective piles.
What I found was interesting. The pile that I perceived as harder/heavier,
were! Those weighed out between 2.6g and 2.3g. The lighter/softer percieved
stack measured out at 2.3g to 2.0g. I installed the shanks with the
harder/heavier ones in the Bass/Tenor and the lighter/softer from mid-point
up in progressively lighter weight, in the treble/high treble. I don't have
a clue if this is going to effect anything, but we'll see. The
lighter/softer shanks were in the upper treble, which is in keeping with the
current thought of keeping the balance even throughout the keyboard. One
thought occurred to me, would stiffer shanks, in the top treble, improve the
tone? If that is the case, then the lighter/softer shanks will flex more,
(or, at least, I assume so), creating a lesser tone production from all of
the counter-productive flexing. It seems like a true "Catch 22". What think
you'all?
Hmmm? I never really gave this much thought, before. I guess I get more anal
with Grands than Uprights.
Best Regards,
Joe Garrett, RPT, (Oregon)

Been There, Didn't Like It, So I'm Here To Stay! [G}