[CAUT] Touchweight, etc.

[James Ellis]

I have been reading some recent posts on touchweight and related subjects,
and I detect much confusion that would be impossible for me to clear up in
a single post on this list.  I'll just make a few general statements.

In Bob Hull's latest post, his measurements indicate reasonably even strike
weight, although it might be a tiny bit heavy in the high treble.
Down-weight, up-weight, and balance-weight are all over the map.  I don't
see a column of numbers for the friction component, but I suspect that's
where the problem is.

Here's how I do it:

I deal with the friction first.  Keys first, absolutely, before anything
else, then the various action centers.  There is no sense fretting with
action centers if the keys are binding.  To do a thorough job checking the
keys, the stack must of off.  You will find things you can't find if the
stack is on.  After you have the keys all in good shape, deal with the
action centers.  Don't overlook mundane things like rep levers rubbing on
adjacent knuckles, and stuff like that.

If the hammer weight taper it reasonably even, the strike weight will be
also.  If that's the case, and unless someone has been messing with the
action geometry, and it looks to be in order, I weigh off for balance
weight, with perhaps a little give and take here and there if there is
reason to do so.  Friction will go up and down as the relative humidity
changes, and so will down-weight and up-weight, but balance-weight will
stay the same.

If the friction component is fairly even; if the strike weight taper is
smooth, and if the action geomerty has not been screwed up, the other
measurements will fall right into place.

Unfortunately, I find cases where capstans have been moved around, and
other things done to the action, when that was not the problem in the first
place.  It's very doubtful that an S&S D has the capstans in the wrong
place, but if that is the case, it's a major problem.  Being poorly aligned
with wippen heels is more common.  I would do some very careful checking
before I started messing with the action geometry of a premium-quality
grand, but I would do it, and have done it, when I have found such a
problem - which isn't very often.

More often than not, the problems I find are those that come from the fact
that somewhere along they way - at the factory or somewhere else - someone
did a weigh-off while uneven frection was still present.  When that
happens, you may end up with fairly even down-weight, but everything else
will be all over the map.

That's the way I do it, and unless someone has screwed up the action
geometry, or it was flawed in the first palce, it works every time.

Sincerely, Jim Ellis