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<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2><EM>> If the <BR>> action is reasonably
good at that distance, and it's not a top-grade piano <BR>> or a customer
with lots of money, is it necessary to mess with packing the <BR>> rest rail
etc?</EM></FONT> </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>No, it is not necessary. A complete job would indeed
include regulating blow distance, etc. But you are correct that just by filing
hammers down to the base of the existing grooves, you haven't changed blow or
let-off or anything else.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><EM>> A fairly quick hammer re-facing, along
with tightening all <BR>> flange screws and taking up lost motion, can make a
huge difference to the <BR>> sound and feel of a semi-decent old upright, at
reasonable cost.<BR></EM></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Yes. But I'm curious why you separate out regulating lost
motion from the rest of regulating tasks. Just because you have filed the
hammers, doesn't dictate regulating lost motion. However, I do agree that lost
motion regulation on a long-neglected piano is often one of the most beneficial
single regulating steps.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Everything else you've stated sounds like pretty sound
thinking to me.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Terry Farrell</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>----- Original Message ----- </FONT>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>> Yesterday I did a hammer re-facing on a client's 1929
Challen upright.<BR>> <BR>> Hammer re-facing is a job I enjoy doing.
I take care to keep a proper <BR>> shape, and it never seems all that
difficult to me, yet I have seen some <BR>> horrible jobs. Recently I saw a
piano where the hammers were all lop-sided <BR>> because someone had done a
very crude re-facing by filing (with I know not <BR>> what implement, the
hammer felt looked all roughed-up) from the top side <BR>> only, towards and
over the striking face. The hammer bottoms had not been <BR>>
touched.<BR>> <BR>> I was musing about the conventional wisdom which says
that after re-facing, <BR>> the blow distance should be adjusted by packing
felt behind the hammer rest <BR>> rail, and the action re-regulated. In
practice I have seldom done this <BR>> after re-facing. There is the
practical consideration of what the customer <BR>> would be willing to pay,
balanced with the very substantial improvement to <BR>> an old piano that can
be made just by re-facing.<BR>> <BR>> What I was thinking, is this: If you
re-face carefully, you don't increase <BR>> the blow distance beyond what it
already is, because you only file the <BR>> hammers to the level of the
bottom of the exisiting grooves. The existing <BR>> blow distance is from the
bottom of the grooves to the strings. If the <BR>> action is reasonably
good at that distance, and it's not a top-grade piano <BR>> or a customer
with lots of money, is it necessary to mess with packing the <BR>> rest rail
etc? A fairly quick hammer re-facing, along with tightening all <BR>>
flange screws and taking up lost morion, can make a huge difference to the
<BR>> sound and feel of a semi-decent old upright, at reasonable
cost.<BR>> <BR>> And in any case, adjusting the blow distance to what it
originally might <BR>> have been, does not restore the piano to what it was,
as it now has smaller <BR>> hammers and an altered action geometry.<BR>>
<BR>> Best regards,<BR>> <BR>> David. <BR>>
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