<html> Paul, I would like to humbly suggest that replacing the butt skins might have been a better long-term repair.  It takes 3 to 4 hours, and will be done once and for all.  No need to change the butts themselves. You might consider re-doing this later.  The adhesive on those felt bumpers is not the best, and I think you will find that they will start to gum things up in a year or so.  You may end up having to clean all the jack tops with mineral spirits and re-coating with DAG. Don Mannino At 07:34 AM 5/22/2003 -0700, you wrote: <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>Dave:    &nb= sp;        Yesterday I came up with a nifty idea for getting rid of that disturbing click on a Baldwin Hamilton.  The piano had been sold with the promise (!) that I would take care of the noise.  After boldly declaring it was simply not possible to do without replacing the hammer butts, I swallowed my pride and realized the sale would fall through if I didn t do something quick!   What I did was to place a self adhesive felt dot (the kind you put under objects you don t want to scratch the surface they sit on) about 3/8 diameter on the back edge of the jack tip, with the felt just peeking over the tip edge.  The felt is thus on the butt side and does move the jack out slightly away from the butt.  You just want to cushion the leading edge of the jack tip so it doesn t make that sound.  The self adhesive barely covers the edge and just a little on the jack top insures the felt will stay there.  Long term I don t know if this will be permanent, but at least the piano will stay sold.    &nb= sp;        If you do this repair, I would offer the following procedure to save you time.  I wasted hours removing each whippen, installing the felt and replacing the whippen.   I did two sections until I realized how it could be done much easier and faster.  I removed all the bridle tapes, then the letoff rail.  I used an action jig to lay the action face down.  The jack tips could then be accessed easily.  I used acetone to remove the dag from the tips so the adhesive would stick better.    &nb= sp;        I had to do a little regulating afterwards.  The lost motion will be disturbed, as well as the letoff adjustment.  Most hammers were blocking after I installed the felts.     &nb= sp;        Bottom line is, if you can t soften the butt leather, why not soften the jack tip (edge)?  I d have rather had a system to cut the edge of the jack and install some kind of rubber, but this would have taken more time than to replace the butts.    &nb= sp;        FWIW.  Hope it helps.    &nb= sp;        Paul McCloud    &nb= sp;        San Diego   -----Original Message----- From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [<a href="mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org" eudora="autourl">mailto:pian= otech-bounces@ptg.org</a>] On Behalf Of Piannaman@aol.com Sent: Monday, May 19, 2003 7:25 PM To: pianotech@ptg.org Subject: Re: Bedevilled by a Baldwin yet again   List, I was finally able to get back to my friend's house to check out the Baldwin Studio that was making a really obnoxious clicking noise.  I went out to the lady's house today to try to solve the problem.  Well, I was right....there was not enough keydip!  It took me awhile to figure out what was causing the noise.  Turns out it was the backslap of the jack on the corfam that was creating the sound.  The harder I hit it the harder it slapped back.  The nanosecond delay also confused me and made it seem almost like a rattle. I gave it a quick remedy:  I de-regulated the let-off buttons half a turn, and voila, the clacking was gone in every key.  The jacks were now a couple of millimeters away from the rock-hard corfam on the rebound due to the introduction of more aftertouch.   I did not have time to regulate the keyheight and keydip this afternoon, but those are the next things I will check.  Increasing let-off distance is a very temporary remedy.  There is nowhere near the power in the hammer blow as there was before my "fix." But the noise that was driving Linda buggy is a thing of the past. Thanks for all of the input! Dave Stahl In a message dated 5/10/03 7:25:27 PM Pacific Daylight Time, Piannaman@aol.com writes: Just a little to much key dip. The jack is slapping the let off rail a bit hard. Maybe the glue on the felt there was over done. Did the clacking start when you took out the lost motion? Sure sign you have to much dip. Keith Roberts Keith, This just got me thinking.  If anything, the dip is too shallow.  The key height does not seem right to me, either:  it's too low, if I were to judge just by looking at it.   I got so focused on the action, I neglected the keys.  I'm wondering if maybe certain keys are hitting the keyslip.  It sure sounded like whippen/hammer assembly noise, but noises do tend to get tossed around in there, don't they? Thanks to everyone for their suggestions.  I'll let you know what it was when I figure it out!  </blockquote></html>