John writes, and I gotta disagree some.
>4. Do not over twist shank flanges to space. Instead travel the shanks
>in areas were the string pacing is to close together or erratic. The
>hammer should be evenly space at rest but may travel a little to hit the
>strings.
Traveling hammers waste power, they often bend on heavy blows, and in my
experience, they wear out faster. Is there reason for evenly spaced
hammers at rest other than cosmetic? It seems to me that function should take
priority over form here and all the hammershanks should travel in the same
direction. Traveling straight also lets the world know how well the plate was
drilled and bridges fitted.
>5. Space the strings to the hammers in the De-capo area.
It is not uncommon to have a plate/action fit that requires all the
hammers in a particular section be spaced off center one way, and the strings
spaced in the opposite direction! Since upper register's tone can deteriorate
with a lot of lateral deviation behind the capo bar, I would suggest that
hammer and string spacing be thought of compromise here, attempting to keep
the strings as straight as possible. A poorly set up action could have
someone moving all the strings out of place.
just my $.02
Regards,
Ed Foote
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