[pianotech] Key Balancing

[Ron Nossaman]

On 12/16/2010 3:14 PM, Daniel Carlton wrote:

> How do you decide how wood much to take off? Do you just do it till it
> feels right?
>
> Daniel

I take it from just aft of the front mortise, to about the back of the 
key top, about 3 millimeters in from the edges. I'm not awfully worried 
about feel on C-8 in spinets and consoles, but it does relieve the 
extreme front heaviness and makes them work where they didn't before. 
Strictly meatball surgery. Quick and dirty, but cheap and effective 
under the circumstances. I've done it on new pianos that didn't work, as 
well as old pianos that still didn't work; lots of them. No down side 
that I can see, as long as you don't whack a finger.

Incidentally, this is a pocketknife fix. it takes a narrow blade with a 
curved edge to make the sweep without chopping it up. I wouldn't 
recommend a utility knife or chisel.

Ron N