Shanks parallel to strings

[Overs Pianos]

>>>. . . I didn't remember that you were advocating short boring the hammers.
>>
>>I'm not advocating it with our own action, since it is designed for 
>>the shank to be horizontal at strike. But for conventional 
>>contemporary actions, over centering really helps.
>
>Any particular reason that you chose for the shank to be horizontal at strike?

Since the strings are angle slightly upwards for most pianos, it 
might be of advantage for the shanks to be nominally over centered. 
If the hammers are bored so that the shanks are centered when the 
hammers are new, they will gradually become more over centered as the 
hammers wear and are reshaped. Boring the hammers to center the 
shanks also makes for the simplest method of arriving at the boring 
distance (string height minus hammer centre height). It also makes 
the setting of the striking point more straight forward.

>>>2.  Does it improve feel or performance of the action to have the 
>>>jack/knuckle contact point above the magic line at letoff?
>>
>>It probably would assist let-off slightly, since the surface of the 
>>roller would tend to be travelling more with the direction of the 
>>jack surface as it moves towards the let-off position. But that's 
>>not the reason for setting it up in this manner.
>
>What is your reason?  Minimizing friction?

Minimizing friction and, just as importantly, extending the service 
life of an action through reduced wear and tear. Our earlier pianos 
(with the first of our actions) have now done a couple of years 
service. The regulation settings are proving to be remarkably stable. 
Let-off, the stability of which can be a real problem with 
conventional actions, hardly changes at all. I attribute this to the 
reduced friction and also the fact that the rollers are placed 
further out on the hammer shank, 20 mm from the hammer centre. This 
slightly reduces the jack pressure on the roller.

>I don't have an opinion either at this point.  Just conjecture.  I 
>do think the idea that something other than the weight of the 
>hammer, or the SW of the hammer/shank assembly, affects the tone or 
>playability is worth investigating.  Angle of hammer to string, 
>angle of hammer to shank, inertia of hammer assembly, center of 
>percussion of hammer assembly, designing shank to flex more or less, 
>etc.

Indeed. There's so much which remains to be understood about the instrument.

Ron O.
-- 
OVERS PIANOS - SYDNEY
    Grand Piano Manufacturers
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