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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hello All: Here's the rest of the story on the
Knabe (actually Aeolian) console and the customer complaining about the heavy
touch. The owners complained that the key did not respond immediately to
the touch, and also added that keys sometimes did not respond. The first
thing I did was to measure the touchweight - around 52 in the bass, 48 in the
middle, 44 in the top octaves. I demonstrated what lost motion was, and
what problems excessive lost motion might cause. I showed how adjusting
lost motion does not change the touch weight. I then put a thick card
front rail punching under the hammer rest rail, and had them play the
piano. They liked it, and said that the piano played the way they liked
it. Interestingly to me, they said that the keys now responded immediately,
unlike before when the lost motion had been taken up. I saw that they were
registering the intial downward movement of the key before the jack engaged the
hammer as the key responding. In reality although the key was moving, they
weren't getting immediate response from the action itself. The piano had
been in the condition of having excessive lost motion that this is what they
expected to feel when they sat down to play.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> One reason for the piano having
excess lost motion after being serviced by several apparently experienced
techncians is that this piano has a "compressed" action, which seems to require
more lost motion than most to get reliably consistent repetition. It
could be also that the type of material on the hammer butt is rougher than
usual, and does not allow the jacks to get back under as quickly. In
the future I will be more aware of the possible need for more
lost motion than usual in this type of action. As for the issue of
changing the touch through adjusting lost motion, I frankly
have never had anyone before have a negative reaction to my doing this.
Usually, if they notice, the owner is happy with the increased responsiveness,
and elimination of problems like bobbling hammers. Well, as they say, live
and learn. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Patrick Poulson, RPT</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>