[CAUT] Wippen alignment

[Richard Brekne]

Hi Avery...

Without actually seeing your action I will venture this bit of thought. 
There are three planes you can manipulate usually.  One is purely 
left-right or the lateral position of the entire whippen assembly. This 
is usually allowed for by the size of the flange screw hole compared to 
the smaller diameter of the screw itself.  The second is the horizontal 
tilt, adjusted by adding paper to one side of the flange or the other. 
The third is the vertical tilt, adjusted by simply tilting the flange 
itself so that it is other then perpendicular to the whippen rail.

Some combination of these three needs to do the job.... or the indexing 
of the action iteself is bonkers. Steinway flange or not.  Draw an 
imaginary line from the letoff button through the capstan position, and 
adjust the lateral and horizontal to pass through both (if possible).  
Then adjust the vertical to assure the jack top is centered under the 
knuckle.  Either its possible or not Yes ?? 

 The most radical fudge job I ever saw is on a Petrof I tune from time 
to time.  Here two sections of hammer flange holes were misalligned with 
the rest of things so that not only did you have to fudge the whippen as 
much as possible.. but the hammer shanks were off on this radical angle 
so the hammers could actually meet the strings.  I think I will have to 
take a couple digi-shots of this to share with you all next time I get 
the chance.  Its really quite something.

Reasons for differences between old and new ??  Flange condition is the 
first thing that comes to my mind.

RicB



Avery Todd wrote:

> List,
>
> This is a question I /should /know the answer to but I don't. :-( Is 
> there a way to tilt the wippen so it will sit correctly on the capstan 
> without disturbing the jack tender/let-off button alignment? 
> Considering the shape of the Steinway flange.
>
> I put a set of wippens on an 'L' yesterday and the jack tender 
> alignment was WAY off on a lot of the notes, so I corrected that 
> without thinking to check the wippen to capstan position. A few were 
> so far off that they were even hanging up on the adjacent wippen. 
> They're not TOO bad now but there are several I'd like to be able to 
> make sit more correctly on the capstan. I'm assuming that would be 
> more important than an exact tender alignment wouldn't it?
> I /really /don't want to have to go back with the old teflon bushed 
> wippens! :-)
>
> The new ones are the wippens with the rep spring adjusting screw.
>
> Anyway, it was like the entire let-off rail was positioned somewhat 
> incorrectly because eveything I traveled was to the right (looking at 
> the screws). Many as much as 3-4 mm of travel paper.
>
> I even went back and checked the old wippens and they seemed to be 
> centered fairly well without nearly as much traveling as I had to do.
>
> I've never had this much of a problem with this before and just 
> wondered if anyone might have any thoughts on the reason(s) for this. 
> Thanks.
>
> Avery Todd
> University of Houston