grand hammer hanging question

Jon Ralinovsky ralinoj@muohio.edu
Tue, 11 Nov 2003 10:02:21 -0500


Hi David,
The piano wouldn't regulate in that the let-off buttons were all the 
way up, but the let-off was still in the 1/4" range.  Thanks for the 
reminder about the bass hammers clearing the pinblock; I'll take the 
action back to the piano before installing the hammers to check on 
the strike point and the clearance.

Respectfully,
Jon

>In what way would the action not regulate?  Have you checked to be sure
>that the bass hammers will go in under the pinblock with the added length?
>If you have changed the bore distance, you have changed the strike point so
>it is important that you test this in the piano before you glue everything
>up.  It is worth a trip back to the piano if you are not sure.  There is no
>law which says that all hammers must be hung at the same distance, but it's
>not a bad idea to aim for it.  The bass and tenor are not sensitive to
>strike point the same way the treble is but I would be concerned about
>adding so much length to the bore.  If there is an overcentering problem,
>you can always rake the hammers back a little.  Some makers, by the way,
>set hammers up to overcenter just slightly for various reasons. 
>
>David Love
>davidlovepianos@earthlink.net
>
>
>>  [Original Message]
>>  From: Jon Ralinovsky <ralinoj@muohio.edu>
>>  To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
>>  Date: 11/11/2003 4:59:22 AM
>>  Subject: grand hammer hanging question
>>
>>  Hello,
>>  I'm rebuilding the action for a 1968 Kawai Model 600 (6' long).  The
>>  hammers are hung in a straight line, but the distance from the hammer
>>  flange center pin to the center of the hammer molding tapers from 4
>>  7/8" in the treble to 5" in the bass.  The top hammers sounded decent
>>  before I took the action out of the piano; unfortunately, I didn't
>>  check the case parts to see if I could move the action in or out.  Is
>>  there any reason that I shouldn't duplicate the original specs?  Is
>>  it important that all the hammers are hung at the same distance from
>>  the hammer flange center pin?  If it makes any difference, I did
>>  change the bore distance of the hammers from 2 3/16" to 2 3/8" in the
>>  bass and from 1 7/8" to about 2 1/8" in the treble; this was done due
>>  to the hammers overcentering and the action not being able to be
>>  regulated.  I look forward to your responses.
>>
>>  Respectfully,
>>  Jon
>>
>>  --
>>  Jon Ralinovsky
>>  Piano Technician
>>  Department of Music
>>  Miami University
>>  513/529-6548
>>  _______________________________________________
>>  pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives
>
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives


-- 
Jon Ralinovsky
Piano Technician
Department of Music
Miami University
513/529-6548

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