Mysterious unsolvable Yamaha double-striking uprights

Dean May deanmay@pianorebuilders.com
Tue, 12 Jul 2005 08:38:06 -0500


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Check also the damper spring tension.  What may be happening is that if
the damper spring is excessive it will slow down the acceleration of the
whippen as the spoon contacts the lever. But the hammer will continue
on. I can see where this would show up on a slow blow. 
 
I just reset all the damper springs on a U3 with very good results. Here
is what I posted last week if you missed it:
 
FWIW, I played around with the tensions and ended up with the following
settings. Force was measured at the damper head where dowel was glued. 
 
Bass singles- 45g
Bass wedges- 25g
Tenor- 25g down to 15g at upper break
Upper treble- 15g
 
It was interesting that after training my touch with the gage I could
pretty accurately hit my targets just by feel with the finger.
 
 
Dean
Dean May             cell 812.239.3359
PianoRebuilders.com   812.235.5272
Terre Haute IN  47802
 
-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] On
Behalf Of Geoff Sykes
Sent: Tuesday, July 12, 2005 1:04 AM
To: Pianotech@Ptg. Org
Subject: Mysterious unsolvable Yamaha double-striking uprights
 
Greetings --
 
I did a dealer prep on a brand new, fresh out-of-the-box, Yamaha MX500 P
upright today. Every single note double-struck when played softly. I
checked regulation and had to adjust lost motion on every key. Let-off
also needed to be adjusted, but only on about 10 keys. When I finished
these two adjustments the regulation may not have been perfect but it
was certainly close enough. Still, every single note was double striking
when played softly. (Definition of "softly": Playing the note faster
then when you are checking let-off but slower than it takes to actually
check.)
 
What I am witnessing is this: When I play the note, just before the jack
releases from under the butt the hammer jumps off the jack prematurely
and strikes the string. After striking the string the hammer then
bounces back onto the jack, which is still in it's pre-release position.
Continuing through the keystroke results in the hammer striking the note
a second time as the jack finally releases from under the butt. 
 
This was something new to the store manager so I called an associate. He
suggested I go through the routine I had just completed, but otherwise
could offer no further suggestion. OK, so I decided to tune the thing
while I pondered the matter further. 
 
Aha! Tuning finished. Let's see what the other Yamaha uprights are
doing. I checked six other, (not used), Yamaha uprights on the floor,
(none of which I had prepped, but all of them allegedly prepped), and
every single one of them exhibited the same double-strike behavior. For
comparison I then checked some NON Yamaha uprights and they all behaved
properly. I finally checked the showroom Yamaha action model, and it,
too, was behaving correctly. BUT... It was then that I noticed that all
the Yamahas used in this test had plastic jacks. The Yamaha action
model, as well as the non-Yamaha uprights used in this test, all had
wooden jacks. 
 
That's all the clues I have. Anybody have any idea what's going on, and
what can be done to correct it?
 
Geoff Sykes
Assoc. Los Angeles Chapter

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