Heavy action on Steinway "L"

[A440A@AOL.COM]

Greg writes:

> I read high
>70's in the bass gradually coming down to mid 60's in the treble. 

Greetings, 
    You either have heavy hammers, bad geometry, or excessive friction, but 
without balance weight figures, there is no way to really tell. 
      I would suggest that you weigh the hammers.  Take a mid bass hammer off 
the shank and weigh it.  If it is over 10 grams, it needs a diet.  Hammer # 
44 should be in the neighbor hood of 7 grams,  if it is 9 or more, you may 
have a lot of lead in the key.   You will lose weight a lot faster by using a 
small belt sander on the sides of the hammer, reducing its thickness so that 
it has an "hour-glass" shape when viewed from the front or back.  If you want 
the job to go fastest, remove all hammers with their shanks, get an accurate 
scale, and reduce them all.  Making a small bench stop for them allows you to 
sand them down rather quickly, (just a scrap of wood in the shape of a V)
      Go ahead and cut them to the classic Steinway shape with a sandpaper 
file first, then make them tall and skinny!  If you are really doping them 
anyway, you are not using much of the shoulder in the spectra.  
     Friction should be self-evident, but needs a balance weight to pinpoint.
   Geometry can be roughly checked by how much key dip there is in relation 
to the blow distance, and closely checked by weight analysis ala David 
Stanwood.   If you have a long leverage action, a minimal key dip will send 
the hammer through maximum blow, i.e., your finger is on the short end of the 
see-saw.  If a .400" keydip,(my limit for Steinway actions, though others may 
differ), will not result in at least .045" aftertouch with normal let-off and 
1 3/4" hammer blow,  your finger is on the other end of the see-saw and there 
will probably be the least amount of factory lead, which doesn't sound like 
your problem.  
    I think you have heavy hammers on shanks with the knuckles too close to 
the centerpin. (that's my guess and I am sticking to it, until someone else 
has a better idea.....(:)}}
REgards, 
Ed Foote