Weird Frontweights

[Delwin D Fandrich]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ron Nossaman" <RNossaman@KSCABLE.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: October 08, 2001 3:18 PM
Subject: Re: Weird Frontweights


>
> So wildly erratic front weights are probably the result of the
manufacturer
> weighing the keys off after action assembly, and leading for resulting
> static down weight.
> ----------------------------------------------------------

Typically there will be a clearly discernable pattern to a pattern leading
scheme. For example, four leads for a certain number of keys starting in the
bass transitioning to three a couple of octaves up. Then to two and one and,
finally none. One lead of the group will vary some from a straight line
pattern to accommodate key mass variations due to the varying shape of the
key and to provide a smooth transition as it gets close to a transition
point. It is possible to design a specific pattern for any given piano model
that is very close to ideal from set to set--assuming the action geometry
and friction points are within spec.

It's when action geometry and friction are not within spec that the problems
start. The factory worker--who knows nothing (or, at best, very little)
about action dynamics--starts sticking leads wherever they need to go to
make the key move down with some certain test weight.

Wild variations in leading result from the use of leads to compensate for
erratic friction. This results in a very erratic dynamic touchweight but
often very consistent static downweight. Then, as the action wears a bit--or
when some technician out in the field fixes the tight/loose action
centers--both dynamic touchweight and static touchweight are erratic.

So what did the process of 'individually weighing off' the keys accomplish?
At the least it made it necessary for the field technician to take the
keyset back to his/her shop and relead the keys just to make the thing feel
consistent to the pianist. That is, after the field technician has fixed the
erratic friction points that should have been fixed at the factory in the
first place.

The whole process is worse than just a waste of time at the factory--the
waste goes on for years. At best, it ensures that at least one technician
will have to waste at least one round trip to at least one shop to
straighten out something that shouldn't have been done in the first place.
It's a waste of both the technician's time and the client's money.

And some marketing twit has the nerve to call this is a feature?

If you all get the idea that this has turned into something of a
rant....you're right. It's been simmering and occasionally bubbling over for
better than twenty-five years now. It's another of those things I've been
tilting at, lo these many years. Ever since I was called out to look at a
S&S Model M that had a 'heavy touch.' Static downweight measured within spec
across the keyboard. Right close to 52 grams in the bass and just at 49
grams in the treble. But, still, the nice little old lady pianist was
complaining and no one could figure why. Surely it couldn't have been those
eight leads in the keys through the bass (plus, in the sharps, a damper lead
stuck into a hole drilled into the front end of the key in front of the
front rail keybushing mortise) that transitioned down to three or four leads
in the treble. As far as the factory was concerned at the time, the key
downweight was within specification--there was no problem. I guess she
should have been playing only lullabies. Real slow one's.

Del