Mason & Hamlin upright

[Keith Roberts]

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Thanks Don.   I was thinking the aftertouch was bit much even though the =
dip is where we like it and the blow is 1 3/4 inches. I would think =
increasing the blow distance would be the way to go. A little more power =
without sacrificing repetition. It should give me more room for checking =
distance too.
Keith Roberts


----- Original Message -----=20
  From: Donald Mannino=20
  To: Pianotech=20
  Sent: Sunday, March 07, 2004 8:28 PM
  Subject: Re: Mason & Hamlin upright


  Keith,

  I worked on one of those years ago - my sister ended up buying it.

  This action (from Wessel, Nicklel and Gross, I believe, but I've only =
seen it on Mason & Hamlin)  repeats amazingly well.  The only real =
drawbacks are a little extra force in the key when the hammers are in =
check, the possibility of bobbling hammers if the springs are set too =
strong or the aftertouch is too great, and when they are working right a =
very soft blow will push the hammers forward against the strings, =
preventing 'ghosting' the notes.  Once the action was regulated well I =
never had a problem with bobbling, but a piano teacher noticed that when =
he played the notes silently, the hammers would block the strings =
spoiling a demonstration of harmonics he was trying to do for my niece.

  On the action I worked on the springs were very consistent, but the =
felts were worn out.  I replaced the felts with thin butt felts (if I =
remember correctly!), matching the apparent thickness of the originals.  =
The amount of aftertouch in the action has a huge affect on the springs, =
and I found minimal aftertouch was best.  If the springs are unevenly =
bent on the jacks, try to gently flex them to make a straight line when =
viewed from the end of the action.  I don't know exact measurements - as =
I recall, the one I did had about 1/4" gap between the top of the spring =
and the jack - but I haven't seen it in a long time, so I could be =
remembering wrong.

  A very affective design, in my opinion.

  Don Mannino

  At 11:08 PM 3/6/2004, you wrote:

    I'm working on one of those  M&H uprights with those flat brass =
springs between the jack and the hammer butt catcher. Is there an =
adjustment for those? Some of them may have been bent out of shape on =
the reset when the bridle straps were off. Most of the hammers show a =
wink at letoff but some don't making it tough to determine the exact =
point of letoff. Also the hammers want to check at 3/8 inch. Would that =
be the normal setting?
    Thanks
    Keith Roberts

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