<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <meta content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type"> </head> <body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000"> <meta content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type">   This has been a great discussion, and I happen to be up against the same issues with a D. The client has voiced concerns about the touchweight and lack of power. The piano is well regulated and evenly voiced but feels heavy and lacks power. The hammers are new NY Steinway and are, I believe, under-lacquered, on NY 17mm shanks. I have done a pretty thorough analysis of the touchweight and found that: SW's are in the #10 - #12 range DW's are mostly in the upper 50's to about 60g UW's are high, mostly in the 30's with a few approaching 40g DW's range from 36 to 49.5(!) Average ratios is 5.7 FW's are mostly in the 90% - 110% range Hammershanks have been re-pinned with #21.5 (at least on the samples I've checked).   My initial thought (before my more thorough analysis) was that I might be able to remove a little hammer weight, add a little FW, and possibly repin the hammershanks for lower friction and make substantive improvements in the touchweight, and then build the lacquer to add power. Now, however I'm wondering if this action will require some ratio modification. My other option is do settle for more moderate improvements in touchweight and hope that adding power will contribute to a perceived improvement in touch. Questions: I have used the half balance rail punching technique to make improvements on older Steinways, but is this possible with the accelerated action balance rail bearings? If I simply smooth the SW's without attempting to dramatically lower them, I will end up removing no more than .7 or .8 g from the very heaviest hammers and with the current ratio I will gain at most a 4 - 5 g reduction in DW. Should I attempt to reduce the overall SW's more significantly? My own limited experience seems to indicate that it may be difficult to remove more than ~ 1g of material from hammers, and my target DWs (50g or slightly less) would indicate that I would need to remove 1.5g or more. With FW's currently near or over 100% I am reluctant to add any more lead, (in fact I'd love to get rid of some) but perhaps a lower SW/higher FW is a better compromise than the current situation. Whatcha think? Frictions are already pretty good, but the hammershank pinning seems a bit tight to me (Eric Shandall told us at Oberlin this summer that current NY shanks can be pinned as low as 1g, and these are certainly above that. mostly in the 3-4g range). - Mark Dierauf </body> </html>