Dear List, I am rebuilding a 5'6", 1907 Chickering. So far I have re-bushed the keys, replaced the hammers with new shanks and knuckles and replaced all the keybed felt. I have played on it for a year and am fairly happy with the results except that the touch is a bit heavy. The balance weight averages about 50gm across the keyboard. I plan to cut a little more weight off of the hammer tails, but there is not much more to be gained their. Hence, it looks like a reweighting of the keys is in order. Presently, there are keyweights in the front of the keys on keys 1-50, and behind the pivot from 50-88. My question is this -- If I am going to add front weight to the entire keyboard, what should I do up in the treble? Should I remove the old keyweights behind the pivot first? If I don't do this, it seems that the inertial weight will climb in the treble since there will be weights on both the front and back. Any suggestions on removing keyweights and plugging or not plugging the holes? Thanks, Gary Rondeau Eugene, OR grondeau@efn.org
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