shank strike weights

[William Ballard]

At 9:46 PM +0100 11/11/05, Ric Brekne wrote:
>Just finished setting up an action today for hammer replacement. 
>Yamaha C6. .......  I always check shank strike weights now and this 
>job illustrates nicely why its a good idea.

Now who would have thought of something like that.......?

>I have a feeling Touchweight Design would far more widespread then 
>it is now had it just been public domain.

We'd have a better idea of how widespread it was if all of the techs 
using the vast majority of David's metrology which is in the public 
domain, acknowledged how central to their action set-ups SWs, BWs, 
FWs and (lest I forget) shank weights are. It is widespread because 
it's in the public domain. Because it's in the public domain, techs 
are under no obligation to acknowledge it. To quote the great jazz 
bassist Charles Mingus, "If Bird were a gunslinger, there'd be a 
whole lot less Robbins".

16-18 years ago, David broke into entirely new territory in the 
business of action set-up: the measurement of action levers and 
leverage not by distance, but by weight (yes, admittedly weight, not 
mass). Within a few short years, action set-up was reduced to an 
algebraic formula. Initially there was tremendous resistance, mainly 
from those who didn't take the time to actually study his approach, 
and admittedly from those a little nervous about drilling holes in 
rep bodies or about the value of flange friction adjust screws.

But in the ten years I've been on PTx, I've seen the language of his 
metrology creep into the discussion of action set-up in a way that 
confirms for me the enduring soundness of his metrology. 
Unfortunately, the only likely compensation for the many years of 
development of this metrology, now in the public domain, is public 
acknowledgement.

Rick, you are to be congratulated for your development of the 
magnetically balanced reps (in which both magnets are mounted on 
moving levers and in which the magnet force changes throughout the 
stroke). You are also to be commend for placing that design in the 
public domain. I'm unaware of any great flurry of peer discussion and 
further development, subsequent to its entry into PD via your PTJ 
article. I'm certain you can understand that PD does not make or 
break technological innovations in this business.

Again, those of us who take advantage of David's metrology should be 
grateful for his contribution to piano work, the notion that action 
set-up is properly a weight measurement, not a distance one.

Bill Ballard RPT
NH Chapter, P.T.G.

"You'll make more money selling my advice than following it"
     ...........Steve Forbes, quoting his father, Malcom
+++++++++++++++++++++