Hammer Strike Line-Grand

[Gordon Holley]

Hi Ric.
The transition from Eb7 to E7 is abrupt, right NOW.  Sound volumn, sustain .
. as though I was using a hard cotton swab
on a noodle to strike the strings.  My Accu-Tuner III reads the fact that
I'm playing the E7, just faintly though, . . no bright red lights.
I did shape all hammers, and they do look pretty white and smooth.  I used
200, 400, 1000, 1500 & 2000 wet/dry grit.  10 strokes each direction to the
strike point at 1:00  and 11:00 oclock, with the 10th pass coming across the
strike point of the hammer and down.
When I got up in the upper treble section I backed off from 10 to 8 passes,
and started with 400 grit.
And I did not have a lot of felt coming off the hammers.  All strokes were
straight with a light non-eggressive pull, in other words, I wasn't
digging down on each pass.
Back to you Ric, for your comments.
Regards, Gordon


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Richard Brekne" <Richard.Brekne@grieg.uib.no>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Thursday, August 12, 2004 2:16 PM
Subject: Re: Hammer Strike Line-Grand


> Hi Gordon..
>
> Sounds to me like you have pretty well established that the dead thudish
> sound has nothing to do with the strike line... yes ? That means
> something else in in the way. You could always try changeing a few
> strings and the like.. but I doubt that will make a lot of difference.
> You may just have a piano thats dead up there. No sustain points in the
> direction of a bridge/soundboard that simply sucks up all the strings
> energy and reflects none of it back. Could be a host of reasons for that
> being the case.....
>
> One question... is the transition from Eb7 to E7 and above abrubt... or
> is is a bit smoothed ?
>
> Cheers
> RicB
>
> Gordon Holley wrote:
>
> > List.
> >
> > I’m experiencing a problem with the strike line for the last 10 notes
> > in a grand, from E7 to C8. I have replaced all wippens, shanks and
> > hammers in this piano. This problem strike line existed before I
> > started this partial rebuild.
> >
> > Starting at C7 I can play chromatically up the scale to Eb7 and there
> > is no problem. Play E7 and continue on up to C8, and I can hear the
> > pitch of each note, however there is more of a thud and no sustain.
> > Just like the original problem with the old hammers.
> >
> > I pulled the action out, in the high treble, just a very little bit,
> > and again played E7, same thud, and none of the notes above E7 sounded
> > with any improvement.
> >
> > I took a new shank, pushed on a left-over new hammer, same size as the
> > C8, removed the E7 shank and hammer, mounted the “test” shank with
> > movable hammer, placed the hammer out farther very slightly from the
> > capo bar, pushed the backcheck back so as not to interfere with the
> > end of the test shank, pushed the action back in to the dags, and
> > played the E7 key.
> >
> > NO improvement. I continued to move the “test hammer” out on the shank
> > and play the note, each time with no improvement.
> >
> > I repeated this step on all notes above E7.
> >
> > I have checked the bridge and it is still solid on the soundboard with
> > no cracks in the glue
> >
> > joint. The strings are perfectly in place around the bridge pins,
> > hitch pins, and position under the capo bar to the tuning pins.
> >
> > This Farrand 5’ Grand was built around 1923, has never had the
> > strings, hammers or any major re-work performed on it, and I’ve had
> > the piano since 1953.
> >
> > Another local piano technician (a friend) and I have discussed this
> > problem and attempted to reach a resolve, but to no avail. Does
> > anybody have some additional suggestions or tests that I can perform
> > on this piano?.
> >
> > If you have any questions that I can respond to, please fire away.
> >
> > Many thanks in advance
> >
> > Gordon Holley
> >
> > Goshen, IN
> >
> > Associate Member, Indiana Chap 467
> >
>
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