[pianotech] Bouncing Bostons

William Monroe bill at a440piano.net
Fri Jul 30 22:38:41 MDT 2010


Hi Don,

A great deal of information from a lot of great minds.  So thanks before I
poke holes.  ;-]
If anything, balance holes are too tight.  They don't drop freely at all,
and must be "encouraged" to seat.  I had actually considered that the tight
balance rail holes (and possibly too thick as well) could be contributing to
the crazy touchweight data I took.  So I'm pretty confident dismissing that
one.

Most other points check out, though I would consider the back rail cloth to
be firm.  Not from compaction, but it just is - the piano is only 2-3 yrs.
old.

As to chasing a "technician's symptom," the malady was brought to my
attention because it was happening during practice for the pianist.  I
merely duplicated the symptom (at will) after the fact.  So it is, in this
case, a performance issue.  Thanks again for putting some thought into my
puzzler.

Unfortunately though, this is a piano in the pianists home and I won't be
seeing it again for a bit.  When I do, though, I'll be sure to report back.
William R. Monroe


On Fri, Jul 30, 2010 at 10:13 PM, Don Mannino <donmannino at ca.rr.com> wrote:

>  William,
>
>
>
> A few thoughts if I may, since the basic specs in the Boston action are the
> same as the Kawai:
>
>
>
> -          Dip of .400 is pretty much the same as normal 10.2mm spec, so
> that’s fine.
>
> -          Blow of 46mm is normal
>
> -          Key balance hole is probably too loose, allowing the key (and
> it’s lead weights) to bounce up off the balance rail. This bounce can
> coincide nicely with the return of the hammer, sending it back up with more
> energy than the hammer alone.  To test this, place a finger firmly on the
> key button just behind the balance pin and do the Staccato blow.  If this
> reduces the hammer bounce, you have a solution.  Make the balance hole
> tighter, so that is will SLOWLY drop back to rest position instead of freely
> falling.
>
> -          Balance rail bedding keyframe should be rechecked as well
>
> -          Hammer rest felt should be about ½ the hammer shank thickness,
> so you may have it correct already.
>
> -          Hard back rail cloth could contribute.
>
> -          Very loose hammer centers might contribute as well, but I
> wouldn’t consider that the prime cause.
>
>
>
> As Ron said, if one tries to make an action do this, one can usually make
> it happen.  But it really shouldn’t show up when playing music.  Check the
> balance rail holes – that’s my best guess as to the primary problem, and set
> the hammer line a little lower along with resetting the hammer rest
> (rebound) rail to match.
>
>
>
> Don Mannino
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20100730/3c2553c2/attachment.htm>


More information about the pianotech mailing list

This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC