Piano touch too heavy

[Avery Todd]

Ted,

   Did you happen to notice if the damper timing to the keys was too
early? It's sometimes amazing how much difference that can make. I do
some work for a Baldwin dealer and almost every grand I prep, I have
to redo the damper lift. Check for excess friction there, too.
   Make sure the key dip and/or aftertouch isn't excessive, also. You
might want to check pinning. Just do a quick swing test holding the
action down in front of you, swing it in and out and watch for
excessively slow hammers. Do the same thing on the bench by putting
the action in the hammer rail and tilting it slowly. Excessively tight
ones will usually show up. I'm probably telling you something that you've
known for years, but just in case.....  :-)
   It's also possible that after it's regulated and lubed, it will
"seem" much lighter just simply because it's a lot more even.
   The _best_ way to determine the problem is with the Stanwood system,
but you'll have to wait for David, Newton or someone to chime in with
information on how to do that measuring.
   Good luck and let us know what you find.

Avery

>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?
>
>Ted Simmons
>Merritt Island, FL


mailto:atodd@uh.edu                 I'd rather be over the hill
                                         than under it.
Avery Todd, RPT
Moores School of Music
University of Houston
Houston, TX 77204-4201