Mon, 11 May 2009 00:59:01 -0400 wimblees at aol.com: > Israel, et all: > > I agree that before doing anything with the damper springs, you should > make sure everything else is regulated. But if the hammers are > still bobbling, weakening the damper springs is a very good remedy. I > had this several months ago with a Steinway console on which I > installed new damper levers. I had the same problem, and someone > suggested weakening the damper springs. It worked. > > As far as dynamics, I believe the bobbling hammers have a lot of > effect on dynamics, because no matter how hard you hit the key, the > hammer will not bounce off the strings in a normal way, which in turn > will not give you the dynamic control you want. > > Maybe a sorcerer, but certainly past the apprentice stage. > > Wim Precisely my point, Wim. An experienced "sorcerer" such as yourself has the experience and the judgment to tell when weakening the springs might be appropriate, the ability to judge how much is appropriate, and the skill to do it without causing any collateral damage. I used the "sorcerer's apprentice" metaphor precisely because someone without your knowledge and experience - if not properly cautioned - could very well rush into weakening springs when inappropriate or counterproductive. At best they will waste lots of time - after all, if the butt is bouncing off the top of the jack due to insufficient aftertouch, you could screw around with those springs all day - and accomplish nothing. . At worst they will mangle the springs. Or mangle hammer return springs that get in the way. Or mess up the damping on the longer strings. The sorcerer's apprentice story illustrates the point that a little knowledge is dangerous. And when I see people saying things like "weakening the springs helps with dynamics" - that is just so utterly disinformative. Yes, it could help with control of dynamics an a very few special cases, because yes, hammer bobbling has an effect on control of dynamics, and in those few limited cases that the problem is overly strong springs, then sure, it will help some. But I would bet that in a great majority of hammer bobbling the problem is aftertouch - not damper springs. And could also be pinning issues. And - as has been mentioned - catcher leather or backcheck issues. And if you want to look from the perspective of dynamics control - well, let's see... A mile wide letoff? Friction problems? Worn hammers? Lousy voicing? I'm just getting started... So when a fellow who is trying to learn the trade comes up with a statement such as we have here: "I have heard several others here say weakening the damper return springs may help with the dynamics" - that's not a very productive approach to assessing the situation and finding the correct remedy. To a pianist who doesn't know from jacks, butts or springs it may be a dynamics control problem. A technician needs to see past that and zero in on the precise malfunction or set of malfunctions at the root of this dynamics control problem, before thinking of remedies. The sort of one-to-one correlation between symptoms and procedures without reference to underlying principles or issues that is suggested by this springs/dynamics statement is precisely what results in an awful lot of substandard piano service. Israel Stein -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20090510/1eeb3996/attachment.htm>
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC