In a message dated 7/26/99 1:34:47 PM Pacific Daylight Time, ted@brevard.net writes: << As I was leaving with the action he said "It's got a heavy touch, see if you can do something about that?". When I got the action on my workbench and did touchweight measurements I got downweights of 52 to 60 grams and upweights from 24 to 38. These numbers are within spec as far as I can tell and the action should not feel heavy to the touch. So what do I do now? Any ideas or comments? >> Since your touch up and down weights were reasonable, you can assume that the customer only perceived the touch as being heavy because it is out of regulation. I'll bet that when you adjust your capstans so that the hammers are off of the rebound rail, you will see your key level improve quite a bit too. If the keys have a lot of lead in the forward end, once the hammer shanks begin to rest upon the rebound rail and further compression occurs in the wippen cushion and the knuckle, the key will lower itself because there is not enough weight from the hammer shank assembly to counter balance it. Concentrate on the basics: Tighten all of the flanges, first and foremost. Correct the spacing. You can do this easily by looking at the marks in the hammers. If all or most are too far to the left (a common condition) put some shims behind the block on the left side of the keybed that the action rests against. This will move everything over nicely, then even out your spacing. File the hammers. This may even take a small amount of weight off of them. Whatever weight you remove form the hammer will multiply by 5 on the key end. One gram off the hammer will decrease touchweight by 5 grams. So even a half a gram of weight can make an important difference. If the knuckles are flattened, bolster them. This will automatically reduce the amount of capstan adjustment you need to do. Clean, brush and lube the knuckles. Clean the keyframe and lubricate the keypins and the bushings as you are setting the keys back in. If you have determined that the capstan must be turned a great deal such as at least one full turn, use a wrench or capstan or driver to turn the capstan a full turn (or whatever amount you have determined) as you are replacing the keys with the action stack removed. This will give you a rough adjustment that will take much of the tedium out of turning capstans. If the action centers are at all sluggish, use Protek to lubricate them (or alcohol & water to shrink them). Level the keys if needed and make sure there is enough dip. Make sure the keyframe is properly bedded, that the studs are neither too high or low. Clean and lubricate the keybed not only for the action to shift properly but so that you can take it in and out easily while you are working on it. In the condition you describe, there was probably little or no aftertouch. This alone can make the action feel "heavy". Having the action well prepared and comfortably regulated will make getting a response from it much easier for the pianist, therefore it will seem "lighter". Finishing it off with a good tuning, the pianist will find that getting music out of it will be so much easier that the "heavy touch" issue will be a moot one. You may in fact find after doing all the above that your touch weights have measurably improved a small amount as well. Don't forget to check the damper upstop rail as the last part of regulation. If it is too high, it can make an otherwise well performing action seem "sloppy" or "ill-timed". If it is too low (rather unusual but possible), it will definitely interfere with key travel and aftertouch and cause tha action to feel 'heavy". Going through the basics in such a case will most often solve your problem. Removing material from the hammer moldings, the shanks or the wippens, changing action geometry or key weights are all something to consider only after you have done the basics. If the keys have a lot of lead in their fronts as mentioned above, that can make the down weight easier but it also causes some inertia which can feel heavy and it compromises the upweight. >From what you have said so far, removing or adding key leads would not be necessary and might even be counterproductive. Bill Bremmer RPT Madison, Wisconsin
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