Upright Hammer Butts

[Ron Nossaman]

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>Hi, Ron!  You are entirely correct.  I told her that, as well, but her
>teacher is teaching her to "caress"  the keys, she says!  She also says, how
>come my teacher's piano doesn't have this problem?  (Same kind and model).
>Clark

Sounds like the teacher needs lubricating. Caressing the keys is fine if it 
works the mechanism, but mechanisms have minimal input requirements. 
Perhaps I'm wrong here, but isn't part of playing being adaptable enough to 
play on more than one piano? How old is the teacher's piano? How badly 
worn? How badly out of regulation? How do the jack and damper spring 
strengths compare between the two pianos?

Maybe the teacher would trade pianos with her, or you could trade her an 
old worn out but thoroughly caressable spinet for her new piano. Worrying 
excessively over action minutia for someone who knows what they are trying 
to do and is capable of doing it is one thing, but this will likely go away 
by itself as she learns something of what she's doing. This "problem" only 
comes up with absolute beginners, and is typically self healing. At best, 
they will understand my explanation of what is happening and accept my 
advice to give it a while and meet the piano half way. If they will, the 
problem shortly goes away. At worst, I've bent the letoff rail brackets 
down, making letoff at around 15mm to make it nearly impossible for them to 
screw up no matter how hard they try - and they sometimes try very hard. 
Just takes a minute, severely compromises action function, and (so far) 
universally pleases them. Next tuning, when they have gotten a few miles on 
their technique and can more likely operate a piano action in working 
condition, I bend the brackets back up a bit. Maybe half way, roughing 
letoff in at around 6-8mm. At a year, I bend the brackets back to where 
they originally were and touch up the letoff at where it belonged in the 
first place, and originally was (usually). This works about as well as 
anything I've tried without wasting hours of time trying to fix an action 
that ain't broke or a pianist that is. I learned this from the medical 
profession. Give them something to divert their attention until they heal 
themselves. Take credit. Charge accordingly.

Ron N

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