I'm not sure it's possible to "compromise" one of these actions. The original geometry is usually so screwed up most anything we do--even if it's a mistake--will be an improvement. I do not consider any potential action geometry changes when I'm making the decision whether or not to raise the plate and make the treble bridge a bit taller. Once the new soundboard and bridges are in and plate has been set where I want it I match the action to the new string plane. That means that the stack will be set to an appropriate height and fore and aft position, an appropriate hammer bore will be selected and the capstans will be placed in an appropriate position. In these pianos I tend to use low-tension scaling with relatively light soundboard panels and ribbing. Hence the hammer weight will be on the light side and the action geometry will be a little quick. We can get all carried away with minutia that is essentially meaningless if we're not careful. In the end, though, it's how it all works together that is going to count. I've followed up on so may action and piano rebuilds over the years where the technician doing the work was completely obsessed over one or two details (which were done perfectly) but the whole job simply didn't work and the owner wasn't satisfied. I've also followed up on a few in which many aspects of the job were a bit sloppy and/or just a little off but overall the piano sounded pretty good and played pretty well and the owner reasonably pleased. In this case I prefer to start with a bridge that I know works. I am confident that when the time comes to set up the action I can make it work quite nicely. ddf _____ From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Will Truitt Sent: March 25, 2009 3:43 AM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] Increasing bridge height Though your response may technically correct, I am gathering from others that they do not regard such changes (within the parameters we have been discussing) as to be meaningfully significant, and their end results don't seem to indicate that the action has been compromised. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech_ptg.org/attachments/20090325/957c8a77/attachment.html>
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC