repinning hammer flanges

[Larry Fisher]

Hi all,

About a year and a half ago I repinned a set of hammer flanges on a Kawai
grand (approx 20 yrs old)  for a teacher.  She uses the piano extensively
for herself as well as her students and likes the feel of the action when I
pinned all the flanges at ..... "3 swings"   ..... for lack of a better
measurement.  She had some heavy moisture problems last February when we had
a deluge of rain and her backyard was clay soup, the underside of her house
was a murky soupy mess and the room that the piano was kept in had
excessively high humidity........ her remark was "the keys were sweating"
indicating that moisture had condensated on the keytops.  After that was
when she noticed the feel of the tight pinning was gone and I was just there
today and indeed she's right.  I got 10 swings or better randomly picking
hammers in the middle of the keyboard.  The upper end had 5 to 7 swings
depending on how high up I went.  I repinned one note for her at 3 swings
and she claimed that's the feel she wants back.

I've pretty much deciphered what kind of feel she wants.  The action is in
really good regulation, and the key bushings are very snug.  She liked the
feel of the action last time I did this, and so I've got to obtain that feel
again for her.   She dislikes the way the keys bounce on a fast return,
affecting repetition.  Tight hammer flanges minimizes this, since the hammer
doesn't bounce as much.

My queery.......

Did the high humidity cause this problem?  If so, how?  (yes she has insurance)

Why didn't the Yamaha MX100, in the same room, suffer the same problem?  [I
didn't check it but she claims it plays better than the Kawai grand at the
moment]

How long is repinning hammer flanges supposed to last?  This piano probably
gets the same traffic on it as a piano in a practice room, or a concert stage.

Is there another way any of you would suggest to minimize key/hammer bounce
on fast release?

Gracias ustedes todos.  (thanks y'all)

Lar

                           Larry Fisher RPT, Metro Portland, Oregon's
                  Factory Preferred Installer for MSR/PianoDisc Products
                       phone 360-256-2999 or email larryf@pacifier.com
                            http://pacifier.com/~larryf/homepage.html
                         Beau Dahnker pianos work best under water