<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; = charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1264" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Yamaha C3, piano bar in nightclub. = Serviced every two weeks. Always been a good piano in very good condition. New piano = player for last two or three months. The guy is a major pounder. Lots of broken = bass strings (maybe 10 in the last two months - never before). The key = bushings have also gone from excellent condition to slapping neighboring = keys.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The guy I work for requested that I = depower the piano by decreasing blow distance and, correspondingly, key dip. Seems = like a good idea. I had not heard of that approach before. Seems to me the = piano player will notice it and not like it. But that is just my guess. I = reduced dip in the bass by 0.075" - and then blow by about five times that - to about = 1.5 inches. (From middle "C" on down, I added 0.025" punchings on the front = rail every half-octave until I got to the bass where I added the three = punchings to each front key pin - so that there was a transition to the shorter dip.)</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I have seen recommendations for = increasing let-off to depower a pounder. I have never tried that though. Just curious = whether anyone has any experience with the technique I outlined above, and how = much dip/blow reduction is best to adequately depower the piano, but not = aggravate the player too much. The amount I used what just a wild guess = on my part.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Terry = Farrell</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>