Grand touch

[BobDavis88 at aol.com]

Ric writes:
A Renner action in a 12 year old Petrof concert grand which feels heavy and 
tiring to pianists.
The D/W  average is 48g and U/W average 28g. Action ratio around 5.5
etc.
Two things - 
First, how's the voicing, especially as you go from mp to mf or f? If it 
doesn't open up through this range, it can feel like it takes more effort to get 
sound. 

Second, to get a more complete picture quickly, check for inertia at the 
other end of the stick - weigh the hammer strike weight on note 1 and note 25 or 
so. If it's over about 11 grams on 1 and 10.5 on 25, you may be able to skin 
the hammers. You'll have to remove a little lead to rebalance, so it will help 
with inertia at both ends, as well as open up the tone. 

You can make a strike-weight-checker by putting a razor blade in a slot in a 
piece of wood. Put the strike point of the hammer on your gram scale with the 
shank horizontal, stick the flange straight up into the air, and shim the 
block with the razor blade in it so it supports the (horizontal) shank right under 
the pin. This is a little crude, but it will tell you what you need to know. 
If you don't have a gram scale, I think it's an important investment for 
anyone who is doing action work.

Bob Davis
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