Hi Larry and all,
I will chime in here since we install WNG backchecks quite often at customer's request. They check very well generally. And WNG's backcheck location jig works really well also, it works so well we use it as a one of three references almost all of our backcheck installs We use the origial position and a backcheck boat for funcintion as the other two references as a sanity check.
The larger diameter wont be the culprit to crack the backcheck block, as long as the holes are drilled the correct size. The correct size is normally the diameter of the wire just above the knurling. If the backcheck blocks are really fragile and ready to crack, you could always replace them. We usually use baltic birch, a high end plywood for backcheck blocks in our new keyset builds. It won't crack and holds really well.
I think the slightly larger wire is a positive thing, the checking is very good for these parts.
-Dean
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Dean Reyburn, RPT
Reyburn Pianoworks
Reyburn CyberTuner
1-616-498-9854
dean@reyburn.comwww.reyburnpianoworks.comwww.cybertuner.comwww.reyburntools.comFacebook:
www.facebook.com/dean.reyburn------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 11-07-2023 12:56
From: Larry Lobel
Subject: WNG backchecks
Hi Ed, I'm a little late to this discussion, but wondering if you've continued to use WNG backchecks and if so your opinion of them now. I've been warned the wires are quite a bit stiffer and this might be a problem if installing on old keys that could crack from the pressure. Also would like to know if you think checking is better than with conventional ones. I'm thinking about using them on a 1905 Steinway.
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Larry Lobel RPT
San Francisco chapter
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Original Message:
Sent: 08-01-2013 08:34
From: Edward Foote
Subject: WNG backchecks
Greetings, It seems to me, that the distance over which the hammer decelerates is going to determine how much impulse can be felt in the front of the key. These checks are small, the tail, abrupt. The hammers don't slide to a stop so much as fit in a pocket of converging geometries and planes. The wires are stiffer than others I have worked with, and the checking is certainly definitive, but I wonder....Ed Foote RPThttp://www.piano-tuners.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html
Original Message----- From: Mark Dierauf>>I recently had a chance to try the WNG checks side by side with some original (circa 1900) checks, and noticed that they did indeed produce a "harder landing" than the originals. (I was trying s few samples on a previously rebuilt action with original checks, to see how much I could improve the checking). The old leather and felt were soft, so I assume that it was either the "improved" angle or some other aspect of the new parts that caused this. I did not try a side by side comparison with conventional new backchecks, though.