bechstein

[Ric Brekne]

Hi David
 
I mean that with a 5.7 ratio you could easily handle a bit heavier 
hammers.  You see, for a specified 38 BW a 5.7 ratio matches very well 
with a top medium strikeweight curve. This assumes a 9 gram WBW ... ie. 
(KR * WRW). Yours is closer to 10 but thats not enough to make a big 
enough difference to worry about for now.  With these givens (ratio, 
wbw, and BW) you can match Strike weights to Front weights and the trick 
is to end up at or below what is recommended as maximums for FW's.  What 
actually should be maximums for FW's gets a bit subjective... but for 
the sake of learning your Stanwood ropes just accept his table of 
maximums.  With a 5.7 ratio, 38 gram BW spec, 10 gram WBW and going all 
the way to the maximum FW's you can still handle a top medium curve 
nicely.  Heavier hammers then that will require too much FW or 
combination of FW and assist springs.  Essentially... you dont have 
enough levearge to use a heavier SW curve then top mediums with these specs.

Takes a bit of practice... but if you work with Stanwoods formula and 
his charts very much eventually becomes clear enough.  Alternatively... 
you can do as many will suggest and go with a lower SW curve... such as 
your exisiting one.  That will allow you to counter balance with FW's 
well below the suggested maximums and still get a reasonably low BW.. 38 
for example. This is attractive to those amoung us who believe much 
lower mass levels in the keys is a desirable. 

One immediatly will move into a more complicated series of questions 
about mass levels in keys and its effect on play... but at your stage I 
would suggest getting the basics of Stanwoods Balance methodology down 
and understood. In its simplest form, I like to think of his method as a 
very precise way of doing the weigh off process... one that utilizes 
very even SW values key to key as a starting point.  Learn how to 
balance a SW curve with an existing ratio first... then move on to 
bigger and better things if you get my meaning.

I can offer you a walk through with your action off list if you like, 
but only as much as Stanwoods patent allows for.  Essentially that means 
you can not install FW's figured with his balance equation.  You can 
figure them for the sake of learning... but you will have to install 
FW's established a different way. And there are some good alternatives 
given an even SW curve and a known ratio as a starting point.

Cheers
RicB





New parts will help the friction problems.   I'm still foggy on this 
whole thing...you say the 5.7 ration is doable but I could go up a 
notch...that means 5.8 or 5.6?   I'm looking at a 1/4 or 1/2 medium 
hammer weight curve, right?   Do I follow the hammer curve before I hang 
the hammers...HW...seems easier without the shank in the way?   I have 
been reading through the archives and I feel like Terry Farrell back in 
2002 when he was trying to learn this stuff...   

David Ilvedson, RPT
Pacifica, CA  94044