<HTML>In a message dated 10/22/02 4:24:54 PM Central Daylight Time, avery@ev1.net writes: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">Wim, I'm confused. I've always heard that in a heavy use piano, that increasing the let-off "decreased" the string breakage because the hammer hits the string with less power! Avery >To answer your question directly, yes, a little more let off will reduce >hammer wear. But it will also cause strings to break. So it's up to you >which you want to do, replace strings, or shape hammers. I agree here! :-) </BLOCKQUOTE> I always thought so, too. But I have noticed that I have had very few strings break ever since I brought the let off to all the grands up to within 1/16". Before I got here, the let off was anywhere from 1/8 to 1/4". Maybe the lack of string breaking is due to the pianos being more in tune, but I think it might have more to do with the let off. Wim </HTML>