[pianotech] ever changing hammer line response

[Tom Sivak]

It may be a while before we get a "real" answer, if there is one.  I may not have reason to return there for another month or so.   I believe there is a holiday concert that will bring me up there for a tuning.  I will schedule some time with the M&H at that time.

Tom Sivak


--- On Mon, 11/3/08, Paul T Williams <pwilliams4 at unlnotes.unl.edu> wrote:


> Hi John,
> 
> Good point about the uneven key tops.  My test isn't
> nearly 10mm.  Just 3 
> or 4mm. This is how Steve Brady taught me. Did anyone
> mention a 
> possibility of really tight wip flanges not allowing the
> action to come to 
> rest? or hammer flanges? The more I think about it, the
> more I think of 
> humidity problems..I think Ron mentioned something about
> that early on...
> 
> I just went to a Steinway action here in the shop and
> lifted just the back 
> of the key...the fronts did go down a bit, the center of
> the key a bit 
> more (as if they were hanging up on the pin) and the hammer
> way up. But if 
> these are happening on the sharps, one might not notice the
> change in 
> front key height much...Indeed a good puzzler! Why
> wouldn't they all do it 
> if the BR holes are too tight?  Perhaps the BR's are
> just at the point of 
> being too tight, but just tight enough to become more
> apparant in the 
> sharps...I'm waiting for the "real" answer!!
> I gots to know....
> 
> PW
> 
> 
> 
> 
> "John Formsma" <formsma at gmail.com> 
> Sent by: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org
> 11/02/2008 03:53 PM
> Please respond to
> Pianotech List <pianotech at ptg.org>
> 
> 
> To
> "Pianotech List" <pianotech at ptg.org>
> cc
> 
> Subject
> Re: ever changing hammer line response
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Sun, Nov 2, 2008 at 1:49 PM, Paul T Williams <
> pwilliams4 at unlnotes.unl.edu> wrote:
> 
>  Tight balance rail holes can alter lots of things....If
> they don't always 
> settle down, freely, to the BR punchings, your hammer line
> will indeed be 
> off...Slightly lift your keys and see if they fall right
> back...if 
> sluggish, then there's a problem.
> 
>  
> I'm certainly no expert, and am merely repeating what
> is taught in 
> Yamaha's 37 Steps.
> 
> The balance hole, according to Yamaha, should be tight
> enough so that when 
> the key is lifted about 10 mm, it does not return on its
> own.
> 
> If the BR holes are too tight, how do they work themselves
> up a BR pin? 
> I'm trying to visualize how that would happen when
> there is the return 
> force on the capstan from the whippen, the lead in the
> front part of the 
> key, the key stop rail in proper position, and the BR pins
> angled slightly 
> backward.  I'm not disputing here -- just trying to
> learn some more.
> 
> Plus, wouldn't you also see obviously unlevel keys in
> such a case? And 
> would it cause uneven hammer line of the 1/2 inch that Tom
> mentioned?
> 
> -- 
> JF
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