Let-off in piano

[jason kanter]

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"Push the hammers up until they block". How? With the key?
-Jason
  -----Original Message-----
  From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org]On
Behalf Of David Love
  Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2005 11:19 AM
  To: 'Pianotech'
  Subject: RE: Let-off in piano


  Get some magnetic sign material and cut it into 1” wide strips by 12” long
or so.  Two strips stacked on top of each other equals about 1/16” depending
on the material.  Attach it to the underside of the strings right above the
hammer line.  Push the hammers up until the block and adjust the let off
buttons until you can just feel the jack brushing the knuckle.  By feel you
can adjust the top treble slightly closer than the low tenor.  Pull the
action out slightly and adjust the bass visually as the material doesn’t
stick that well to the bass strings.



  David Love


    From: jason kanter

    To: Pianotech

    Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2005 10:00 AM

    Subject: Let-off in piano



    Just reading David Nereson's post about the old Blüthner he takes care
of. He comments: "Can't regulate let-off in the piano -- no way to get at
the regulating screws."



    Which brings up an important point for me. How DO you regulate hammer
height and letoff in the grand piano? The method I learned is: Pull the
action, measure string height at the extremes of each section using a string
height gauge and a busines card; put the action on a nice, firm, flat
surface (I know that this is the place where errors creep in, if the keybed
and the work surface are not both quite flat); use a contraption to simulate
string height; and regulate hammer height, letoff, checking, drop, etc
outside the piano.



    In some situations I have had to do an on-site regulation where there is
no good, flat surface for the action, so I've tried to do it in the piano. I
can't see how you can do a good job with it. Feeding a hammer blow gauge
through the dampers, turning it 90 degrees and pulling it gently up to
contact the undersurface of the string, and holding it there while trying to
get an eyeball on the hammer surface from the front of the piano and using
the other hand to regulate the capstan ... difficult enough to do samples
but what a challenge to do them all that way. Very hard to get a good line
of sight over the hammer flange under the pinblock. So I have resorted to
approximating, measuring only a few, pulling the action into my lap and
eyeballing the tweeners. I *know* the results are not as good as what I
could do on a good bench.



    Same issue for letoff, and same for backcheck. No doubt you more
experienced folks have developed fast, efficient, easy ways to do this.
Please enlighten.



    Does Bill Spurlock's description sound like what any of you do?
"hunching over the stretcher, peering past the dampers and through the
strings to judge let-off distance, then looking under the pinblock to place
the tool on the adjusting screw, then leaning forward again to watch as you
make the adjustment. All the while you must "squeeze" the key gradually to
slow hammer movement enough that you can accurately see the let-off point."



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    Jason Kanter . piano tuning regulation repair

    jkanter@rollingball.com . cell 425 830 1561

    serving the eastside and the san juans

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