letoff, blocking hammers on an everett upright, ca 1974

[Scott Jackson]

Hi Daniel,
1/16" may be OK for a decent grand, but is probably going to be too close for an old upright, especially if you haven't re-burnished jacks or performed other service on the action. Stick to 1/8" throughout. And besides, if the hammers ARE blocking on the strings, then they are NOT letting-off at 1/16" are they? When using magnetic strips, make sure that you are not using any force on the key to make the hammer set-off.

Are the hammers actually blocking, or just not setting-off? You may need more after-touch. Don't forget, if you have removed 1mm from the hammers, then you also need to raise the hammer rest rail by 1mm, and adjust capstans to take up the lost motion.

Scott Jackson
Wollongong, Australia

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: daniel carlton 
  To: pianotech mailing list 
  Sent: Thursday, May 15, 2008 5:56 AM
  Subject: letoff, blocking hammers on an everett upright, ca 1974


  hi all

  i'm working on this everett, you see, and i've filed the hammers maybe 1mm or so, and adjusted letoff, but the hammers now have a "blocking" feeling (blocking against the string if you know what i mean). i used the 1/8th 1/16th inch magnetic strips from Schaff or Pianotek as a good place to start for letoff and tried to graduate it from 1/8-1/16. 

  i'm wondering if i've set letoff too close. it's on a teacher's piano, so i'm thinking kids who play lightly might notice it more, too.

  help?

  daniel carlton
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