<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; "><DIV><DIV>On Mar 15, 2006, at 7:31 AM, <A href="mailto:A440A@aol.com">A440A@aol.com</A> wrote:</DIV><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">My question was not looking for<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">consensus, but, rather, to gather others' impressions as to where the final height of<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">lift should be for optimum performance.<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR></DIV><DIV>The damper up-stop rail should not limit the highest motion of the underlevers, either by the key end, the sustain pedal, or the sostenuto; it should be there to limit any further motion after this highest lift. As I regulate these three, the sostenuto needs to lift higher than the key end, which needs to lift higher than the sustain pedal. (That's regardless of whether the pivoting of the damper tray by the sustain pedal is adding to the lift of what damper levers the key ends may already be lifting when the sustain pedal "kicks in".)</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>While the damper up-stop rail shouldn't be so low as to interfere with the underlever motion (whatever's driving it), it shouldn't be so high that there's a significant gap between the key end's highest lift and where the up-stop rail stops the underlever. On a firm blow the damper will continue to fly upwards after the key end reaches the end of its stroke. It will then bang into the up-stop rail, which will absorb some of the energy, but most will be there with the underlever after it ricochets off the up-stop rail and heads straight back down for the key end. </DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>The energy of that collision is the same regardless of how high or low the up-stop rail is set. What does change is the time delay between the shock of the key front bottoming out and the shock of the returning underlever hitting the other end of the key. Nice to get those two done with in fairly short order. </DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>The key end is the lift which is the least independent of other parts of the regulation. I set my sustain lever blocking and the sostenuto rail height and pittman travel in relationship to the key end lift.</DIV><BR><DIV> <SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Bill Ballard RPT</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">NH Chapter, P.T.G.</DIV><DIV><A href="mailto:wbps@vermontel.net">wbps@vermontel.net</A></DIV></SPAN></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">"Round here we don't talk unless we can improve on the silence."</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "> ...........Ron Rude, local Public Radio Commentator.</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">+++++++++++++++++++++</DIV><BR></BODY></HTML>