Upright Hammer Shanks

[Farrell]

Hi Joe. 

Regarding your question: Idunno! 

BUT, here is something else to get anal about! The last couple uprights where I have replaced hammers, etc. I have graduated the strike weight from bass to treble consistent with Stanwood's SW curves. This may have as much or more effect on producing an even touch/tone as the shanks. Graduating the SWs won't likely do much for static touchweight, but it certainly will have an effect during play from an inertia viewpoint.

Terry Farrell
  
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joseph Garrett" <joegarrett@earthlink.net>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Tuesday, May 27, 2003 6:42 PM
Subject: Upright Hammer Shanks


> 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}
> 
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