Thinning hammer shanks,

[Kenneth W. Burton]

	Roger,

	Nice to hear from you.
	I have a question from my ignorance. Are you removing material
from the sides of the shank, in relation to the hammer? Or are you
removing material from the front (on the side of the hammer felt) and the
back (away from the felt)?

	Ken Burton "Doctor Piano" Calgary Alberta

On Mon, 1 Sep 1997, Roger Jolly wrote:

> 
> Hi ED, 
>       Shanks can be slimmed down in the following manner quite quickly and
> accurately.  Remove hammmer and shank, clamp to bench with two spring
> clamps at the hammer head and flang, remove the required amount of material
> with a good old fashioned spoke shave, lightly sand with 120 grit sand
> paper, Job done.
>   Some cautionary notes The blade needs to sharp, secondly make several
> fine cuts and watch out for grain orientation, dont exert too much downward
> force. You may pay some dues with the odd broken untill you get the touch.
> Practice on an old set of shanks first
> > Re; our previous comments hammer mass and touch weight, this tappering
> technique is usually reserved for cheaper pianos that have uniform shanks
> throughout. The difference in singing tone is well worth the effort. I
> usually do both treble sections, gradually taking off less material. I also
> do this before removing hammer mass to correct touch weight problems.
> Kind regards Roger.
> Roger Jolly
> University of Saskatchewan
> Dept. of Music.
>