Add another voice to the "Yeah, they're loose". When I was rebuilding, I used Renner parts quite a bit. I always measured the flange resistance with a gram guage (made by Correx) to ensure consistency. In the early days, I was really pleased by the fact that the flanges had so consistently 1 - 2 grams of friction with no lateral play due to the dense bushing felt. So, imagine my amazement when, after rebuilding the action of a Steinway "D" and being very pleased with the light downweight and only slightly high upweight, I was informed several hours before the concert (he was very late) by the pianist (you would all know him) that he liked the fact that the action was very even and easy to play, but he was unable to play SOFT!! Imagine that. I give him the perfect rebuild and HE says HE can't control it when he trys to play soft. Fortunately (for me), I didn't say what I was thinking. Instead, I asked him to explain to me, as simply as he could, HOW he plays soft. What ensued was a tremendous learning experience for me and a successful (yes, even when he played soft) concert. To illustrate what happened, let's try an experiment. Let's say I stand you in front of an open door and I ask you to push the door just hard enough to make it stop on a line marked on the floor. Now, unbeknownst to you, I have installed newly developed, frictionless air bearings. Having pushed (slammed) a couple of doors in your time, you figure you know about how hard you need to push the door to get it to stop where you want it to. Much to your surprise, the door slams against the wall leaving notice for all that you were there. After several more attempts, each one pushing softer, you find it impossible to stop the door at the line. It continues to hit the wall, albeit softer. Now, we introduce our GOOD friend, CONTROLLED friction. Voula!! Within a couple of tries, you're stopping the door on that line like Jordan swishing free throws from 3 feet! The point here, is that too little friction can be as bad as too much friction. Our goal, then, is to provide consistent, controlled and calculated friction within the action. So....back to the concert....how did I give him an action with controlled friction all too shortly before the concert started? I removed every other flange which gave me access to lick (why the piano remains annonymous!!) each bushing. This introduced enough friction that he could gain control over even the softest note. No, this was not a permanent solution. I was in the next day and repinned all the flanges. The touch weight changed slightly (about 3 more grams DW and a little less UW if I remember correctly), but it turned out that it changed for the better. The other surprise, is that the piano SOUNDED better (save that for another discussion)!! From that point on, I repinned most of the flanges I used when rebuilding or troubleshooting actions. So the moral of this seemingly long agreement, is: There must be BALANCE in all things !!! :-)> Hope this brought a nod or two and maybe even a grin!! Brian De Tar RPT
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