[pianotech] Baldwin grand repetition spings

[Barbara Richmond]

Hey, where's David Love during this discussion? 

Taking felt off of bulbous hammers at the staple and below can make a big difference. Actually, it seems like felt removal makes more of a difference than I ever think it should. 

What is the knuckle mounting distance on those shanks? It makes a big difference. The DW on one piano I worked on went down by 8 grams (if i remember correctly--maybe it was six, but I'm pretty sure it was 8) when we changed from 15mm to 17mm. 

I don't know the details about the history/progression of hammer weights used by Steinway but paring a hammer down to match the original leading could be dicey--the leading might not be ideal to begin with--it happens, even on Steinways, and paring hammer weight down too much can rob the piano of power/tone. 

One needs to look at the whole picture. Easy for me to say--I usually zero in on what I think the problem is and find out that I'm mistaken. :-) 

Barbara Richmond, RPT 
near Peoria, Illinois 


----- Original Message -----
From: "Douglas Gregg" <classicpianodoc at gmail.com> 
To: pianotech at ptg.org 
Sent: Thursday, September 8, 2011 8:35:56 PM 
Subject: Re: [pianotech] Baldwin grand repetition spings 

Laura, 
A couple years ago when working of that 70's S&S model O. I considered 
cutting off as much excess wood and felt from the hammers as possible 
to reduce the DW by 10-12 grams. 

I took an extra new hammer (left over from a set) and weighed it on a 
good digital gram scale and then started cutting as much off of the 
hammer head as I could. I ended up getting little more than a gram off 
of it and I questioned the soundness of the remaining hammer. I 
thinned and tapered the tail and even tried drilling the wood core. I 
did not think it feasible to thin down the shank much. It would 
certainly not get me a gram of shavings IMO. It would also be farther 
from the head and be less effective. I gave up on this approach. I 
think it would be less work and expense to buy a lighter set of 
hammers and hang them. 

I am curious how much you have been able to remove and where. 

Doug Gregg 
Classic Piano Doc 
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