[pianotech] wippen felt advice

[Ron Nossaman]

Tom Sivak wrote:
> Again, lifting the wippen with the finger reveals no resistance or 
> unusual friction.  Seems isolated to the wippen pad in contact with the 
> capstan.  Many keys in octaves 6/7 (having no dampers) have just as much 
> resistance when played by the key as do the ones that do have 
> dampers---and the resistance vanishes when lifting the wippen.

Tom,
Don't rule out the key bushings because they're sloppy loose. 
Try sliding something relatively stiff and slick, like a 
manila tag or business card between the wip cushion and 
capstan, and then press the key with the weight of the wip on 
it. That'll tell you if it's the key bushings or the wip 
cushion. I suspect it's both. The long dowel capstans aren't 
the most efficient and friction free way to connect a key to a 
wippen anyway.

Pianotek's action cloth should be fine for the cushion 
replacement.

Ron N