<HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>Grand Hammer Tails</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF"> Greetings from the rapidly chilling Canadian prairie! In the past year, I have encountered at least half a dozen 'name-brand' gra= nd pianos that had replacement hammers installed.  No tapering, tailing= , coving and downweights consequently measured in the 75 - 95 gram range. &n= bsp;These were O.E.M. parts with the correct model name stamped on hammer no= . 1.  Peculiar thing is that we had some of the original hammers (on sh= anks) which had much less felt mass and shorter moldings and when samples we= re re-installed, touchweight measurements were in the acceptable range. I am preparing to reduce hammer weight by the usual methods but feel the ta= ils could be shortened by as much as 1/4".  However, I believe thi= s must be done with due consideration to the action geometry(?)  I unde= rstand that at point of letoff, the end of the hammer tail should be about 1= /16" above the top end of the backcheck, but on these pianos it could b= e a chicken/egg scenario.  What if the backchecks are incorrectly insta= lled? What is the correct relationship of hammer tail length to, say, hammer flan= ge center height or any other fixed reference point? Regards, Stan Kroeker Registered Piano Technician </BODY> </HTML>