a 1975 S&S L > This one seems to have rest cushions that are too high (too thick). > The blow is now at 1 5/8" and the shanks are sitting right on the > cushions. So, I can't check repetition lever "height" by winking the > jacks << It is easy to just put a shim under the keys to lift the shanks off enough to test the balancier height. However, you may as well lift them off the rest cushions now, because there is no way to avoid lost motion without them suspended. > These are the cushions that are covered by red bushing cloth, making it > difficult to peel off a small layer of felt. There's already minimal > aftertouch. I could make the dip deeper, but it's already deeper than > ideal. I hate to raise the hammer line for more aftertouch because it'll > put the blow at a mere 1 1/2". Hmm, you have short hammer blow, deep dip, and minimal aftertouch? Must be a very extreme action ratio. assuming normal hammer size, I would suspect this action has very little key weighting, or a very light action. 1975 was NOT a great action vintage year at S&S, so don't think you have to preserve anything.Can't help much without more info inre action specs, (knuckle distance and size, etc). >> I think the tip of the screw is hitting the > bottom of the hammer "rail" (tube). Some of the rails of this vintage like to split under the flanges, you may want to check for that. Also, this is probably using pan head screws. Self-tapping and inconsistant as all get out. you may need to grind 1 mm off the tip. > And, even when hammers are spaced (aligned to strings), the backchecks > have to be bent so far to align with the hammer tails that they hit > neighboring hammers when key is bottomed << Another bad day in the fore-finishing department 34 years ago. You may decide to shift the keyframe,(don't forget the underlever alignment!) Then respace the hammers more closely over the whippens and in front of the backchecks. All in all, an action of this vintage is likely to need a complete re-alignment in three dimensions to regulate optimally. What to do when the budget only allows modest attention? You could lower the cushions for more blow, but how would you use it? There is already maximum keydip, and a longer blow added to the minimal aftertouch would feel terrible. You would have no aftertouch. So, maybe take a look at the placement of the stack over the capstans. Moving it a couple of mm can make all the difference in the world. Lowering the stack is not out of the question, either. Jon Page has written extensively on repositioning the stacks, You may find more ideas answers in the archives . Regards, Ed -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20091219/17e5407e/attachment.htm>
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