<!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 6.00.2719.2200" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#d8d0c8> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hi Wim.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I believe that you have = to position yourself somewhere between the two extreme situations :</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>1° having thin and hard (compressed) = wool (casimir or cashmere, I don't know the english word) with as few paper punchings = as possible (just calibrate the back rail felt accordingly to the needed specifications), which gives much efficiency to the action (energy = transmitted well from key to whippen) at the risk of it being noisy and hammer = acceleration being too abrupt, which can lead to harsh sound (I think because of the resonance of the hammer shank)</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>2° having the opposite : thick wool = and/or lots of punchings, so the action will be more silent, the tone probably = more mellow (a bit, especially when played forte) but the efficiency certainly = reduced (those punchings act like a shock absorber).</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I presume that thicker wool will = relatively compress earlyer than thin wool, and that lots of paper punchings will = vary in total height sooner than few ones.  So I would choose for as less = material as possible, just enough for the action not to be too = noisy.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Regards,</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Stéphane Collin.</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; = BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: = black"><B>From:</B> <A title=Wimblees@aol.com = href="mailto:Wimblees@aol.com">Wimblees@aol.com</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A = title=Pianotech@PTG.org href="mailto:Pianotech@PTG.org">Pianotech@PTG.org</A> ; <A = title=caut@ptg.org href="mailto:caut@ptg.org">caut@ptg.org</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, October 24, = 2002 4:31 PM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> thick or thin</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 = face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF">I am in the process of re-regualting a S&S M, = where one of the main problems was that the keys were too low, (they were almost = touching the front rail when depressed). I raised them all with = cardboard and paper punchings. <BR><BR>As I was doing this, I got thinking about = this question. Are there any rules of thumb, or what is the general = consensus, as to what thickness the wool balance rail punching should be? Should we = have thick punchings with fewer paper/cardboard punchings, or thin = punchings with lots of paper/cardboard? I guess I could ask the same for the front = rail. Do we use thick felts and fewer cardboard, or the other way around? Or = does it make any difference?<BR><BR>Wim = </FONT></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>