Touch weight and re-busing action centers

[David W. Pitsch]

Yes, down weight must be measured with the weight of the dampers off the
back of the keys.  If measuring in the piano, block the sustain pedal so
all of the dampers are up.  Or just pull the action and measure the up/down
weight on a bench.

In rebushing action centers, you want a glue that dries quickly without
soaking the bushing cloth.  Hot hide glue works well in the shop, but kind
of hard to set up in a customer's home to do one center.  In that case I
think most technicians carry tite bond, and would use this glue.  Use only
enough to get the job done.  Any chance that you plan to rebush all the
action centers and then reweight the keys?  A potential problem here.  I
would never reweight a set of grand keys immediately after rebushing the
keys or the action centers.  Too much chance on having excess friction from
the new bushings.  Break the action in first, then reweight if needed.

Jerry Hunt wrote:

> Sorry if the questions are basic, but I'm trying to get smarter:
> 1) In measuring touch weight of a grand, I've read that down weight
> should be between 48 and 56 grams, up weight should be about 1/2; i.e.
> around 24 to 30. My question: in measuring down/up weight, is that with
> the dampers lifted?
>
> 2) In re-bushing action centers, what is the glue of choice?
>
> Thanks.
> --
> Jerry Hunt
> Dallas, TX USA