[CAUT] balancier/wippens report

[Willem Blees]

Quoting David Skolnik <davidskolnik at optonline.net>:

> Hey Wim -
> Just a friendly reminder.  Have you had a chance to look at the piano
> yet?
> 
> David Skolnik
> 
> 
> 
> At 08:58 AM 11/15/2006, you wrote:
> >Since this thread got started with wippens, I want to report that I
> am
> >not going to be able to do the work on the balanciers on the D
> until
> >Dec. 7. I will give a report once I'm done.
> 
> 

Today I got a chance to do some more work on the wippens in the D on 
our concert stage. First of all, instead of calling them bobbling 
hammers, I think it would be better described as non checking hammers. 
Bobbling hammers means there is something wrong. From what I am able 
to figure out, there is nothing wrong with a hammer not checking. 

I tried everything. My focus was on F2 - to F3, especially on F2- A2. 
These seemed to be the ones that were not checking, no matter how hard 
I hit the key. I checked the balancier of F2 and found it to be at 2  
grams. This is what it was a few weeks ago when I had repinned from 
2 grams to 6 grams. So I repinned it again, this time to 7 grams. But 
the hammer still did not check. 

I tried to play every note in this octave with the same amount of 
force. I found C3 to "non" check, but C#3 to check. So I measured the 
balancier on each one. Both were at 2 grams. I made sure everything 
else was the same. So why does one hammer at 2 grams check, and the 
other not? I don't know.

I did get a little better checking when I pushed the checks back a 
little, which gave me about 3/4" - 7/8" checking distance. But other 
than that, I am perplexed. I don't know why these hammers are not 
checking. I tuned a 5'5" Young Chang the other day, and even on a 
fairly soft blow, all the hammers checked. 

As I wrote earlier, all of our regulating procedures can be  measured. 
But when it comes to having hammers checked, there are no 
measurements. The curve of the tail, the rake of the back check, the 
roughness of both the tail and the backcheck, the strength of the 
spring, and the amount of touch, all have an effect on how a hammer 
checks. But there is virtually no way of measuring these things.

Nothing I have tried seems to work. So for now, I give up. But if 
anyone has another answer, I will be glad to try again.  

Wim 
Willem Blees, RPT
Piano Tuner/Technician
School of Music
University of Alabama
Tuscaloosa, AL USA