Pianotech

I replaced a set of wippens on a Steinway D  today and I have a little (big)  problem (opportunity ?) I wasn't expecting. Posting here for advice please.

The client has a NY Steinway D cir 1950​ and he is a musically advanced player. He plays very well and by my humble estimation plays at a virtuoso level.

He plays Chopin Etudes, Scriabin, Rachmaninoff and Beethoven and his music pushes the performance envelopes of the piano.

He has always had a concern/complaint about double strikes on pianissimo passages. It's been intermittent and impossible for him to duplicate for me.  I regulated the action and he called me the next day very pleased with the evenness of touch and the responsiveness of the action but he still reported getting double strikes in pianissimo passages. He would attempt to play them for me, but we could not duplicate. It seemed to disappear when I'm around.

The wippens are original and he asked me to replace them.  I used the Renner kit to match the replacement wippen and today I installed the new set.

I'm not sure what the heck is going on but now since replacing the wippens I have significant double strikes and hammer bobbling but mostly in one octave F2 to F3 and for the life of me I cannot figure out why?

I've set hammer blow, aligned jacks, adjusted backchecks, set letoff.... it should work! But it doesn't, granted it plays, but there is significant bobbling.

The most significant thing I think I can add is that when I changed wippens I needed to reduce capstan height to acheive the same hammer height and blow distance.  So there's something to that. I wish I knew why.

That' really the first thing in this project that I couldn't understand. The wippen matched exactly the old wippen minus the hammer rest cushion. That was slightly different, but the hammers don't rest on that anyway.  I couldn't understand why the new wippens changed the hammer height (blow distance) and required me to adjust the capstan to achieve the original blow distance.

But I don't think that would cause this problem..... I adjusted the capstan, I have good blow distance (1 7/8) and I think I should be good to go.

The double striking hammers (on pianissmo) all seem to want to bobble as if the knuckle is landing on the jack but I can't see how that is happening!

Do I sound confused??  It would help me greatly if the list could weigh in and share their thoughts. I have to go back to this piano tomorrow afternoon and I'd love to come back armed with new ideas.

Thanks everyone :)

Sean 

I replaced a set of wippens on a Steinway D  today and I have a little (big)  problem (opportunity ?) I wasn't expecting. Posting here for advice please.

The client has a NY Steinway D cir 1950​ and he is a musically advanced player. He plays very well and by my humble estimation plays at a virtuoso level.

He plays Chopin Etudes, Scriabin, Rachmaninoff and Beethoven and his music pushes the performance envelopes of the piano.

He has always had a concern/complaint about double strikes on pianissimo passages. It's been intermittent and impossible for him to duplicate for me.  I regulated the action and he called me the next day very pleased with the evenness of touch and the responsiveness of the action but he still reported getting double strikes in pianissimo passages. He would attempt to play them for me, but we could not duplicate. It seemed to disappear when I'm around.

The wippens are original and he asked me to replace them.  I used the Renner kit to match the replacement wippen and today I installed the new set.

I'm not sure what the heck is going on but now since replacing the wippens I have significant double strikes and hammer bobbling but mostly in one octave F2 to F3 and for the life of me I cannot figure out why?

I've set hammer blow, aligned jacks, adjusted backchecks, set letoff.... it should work! But it doesn't, granted it plays, but there is significant bobbling.

The most significant thing I think I can add is that when I changed wippens I needed to reduce capstan height to acheive the same hammer height and blow distance.  So there's something to that. I wish I knew why.

That' really the first thing in this project that I couldn't understand. The wippen matched exactly the old wippen minus the hammer rest cushion. That was slightly different, but the hammers don't rest on that anyway.  I couldn't understand why the new wippens changed the hammer height (blow distance) and required me to adjust the capstan to achieve the original blow distance.

But I don't think that would cause this problem..... I adjusted the capstan, I have good blow distance (1 7/8) and I think I should be good to go.

The double striking hammers (on pianissmo) all seem to want to bobble as if the knuckle is landing on the jack but I can't see how that is happening!

Do I sound confused??  It would help me greatly if the list could weigh in and share their thoughts. I have to go back to this piano tomorrow afternoon and I'd love to come back armed with new ideas.

Thanks everyone :)

Sean 

I replaced a set of wippens on a Steinway D  today and I have a little (big)  problem (opportunity ?) I wasn't expecting. Posting here for advice please.

The client has a NY Steinway D cir 1950​ and he is a musically advanced player. He plays very well and by my humble estimation plays at a virtuoso level.

He plays Chopin Etudes, Scriabin, Rachmaninoff and Beethoven and his music pushes the performance envelopes of the piano.

He has always had a concern/complaint about double strikes on pianissimo passages. It's been intermittent and impossible for him to duplicate for me.  I regulated the action and he called me the next day very pleased with the evenness of touch and the responsiveness of the action but he still reported getting double strikes in pianissimo passages. He would attempt to play them for me, but we could not duplicate. It seemed to disappear when I'm around.

The wippens are original and he asked me to replace them.  I used the Renner kit to match the replacement wippen and today I installed the new set.

I'm not sure what the heck is going on but now since replacing the wippens I have significant double strikes and hammer bobbling but mostly in one octave F2 to F3 and for the life of me I cannot figure out why?

I've set hammer blow, aligned jacks, adjusted backchecks, set letoff.... it should work! But it doesn't, granted it plays, but there is significant bobbling.

The most significant thing I think I can add is that when I changed wippens I needed to reduce capstan height to acheive the same hammer height and blow distance.  So there's something to that. I wish I knew why.

That' really the first thing in this project that I couldn't understand. The wippen matched exactly the old wippen minus the hammer rest cushion. That was slightly different, but the hammers don't rest on that anyway.  I couldn't understand why the new wippens changed the hammer height (blow distance) and required me to adjust the capstan to achieve the original blow distance.

But I don't think that would cause this problem..... I adjusted the capstan, I have good blow distance (1 7/8) and I think I should be good to go.

The double striking hammers (on pianissmo) all seem to want to bobble as if the knuckle is landing on the jack but I can't see how that is happening!

Do I sound confused??  It would help me greatly if the list could weigh in and share their thoughts. I have to go back to this piano tomorrow afternoon and I'd love to come back armed with new ideas.

Thanks everyone :)

Sean 

I replaced a set of wippens on a Steinway D  today and I have a little (big)  problem (opportunity ?) I wasn't expecting. Posting here for advice please.

The client has a NY Steinway D cir 1950​ and he is a musically advanced player. He plays very well and by my humble estimation plays at a virtuoso level.

He plays Chopin Etudes, Scriabin, Rachmaninoff and Beethoven and his music pushes the performance envelopes of the piano.

He has always had a concern/complaint about double strikes on pianissimo passages. It's been intermittent and impossible for him to duplicate for me.  I regulated the action and he called me the next day very pleased with the evenness of touch and the responsiveness of the action but he still reported getting double strikes in pianissimo passages. He would attempt to play them for me, but we could not duplicate. It seemed to disappear when I'm around.

The wippens are original and he asked me to replace them.  I used the Renner kit to match the replacement wippen and today I installed the new set.

I'm not sure what the heck is going on but now since replacing the wippens I have significant double strikes and hammer bobbling but mostly in one octave F2 to F3 and for the life of me I cannot figure out why?

I've set hammer blow, aligned jacks, adjusted backchecks, set letoff.... it should work! But it doesn't, granted it plays, but there is significant bobbling.

The most significant thing I think I can add is that when I changed wippens I needed to reduce capstan height to acheive the same hammer height and blow distance.  So there's something to that. I wish I knew why.

That' really the first thing in this project that I couldn't understand. The wippen matched exactly the old wippen minus the hammer rest cushion. That was slightly different, but the hammers don't rest on that anyway.  I couldn't understand why the new wippens changed the hammer height (blow distance) and required me to adjust the capstan to achieve the original blow distance.

But I don't think that would cause this problem..... I adjusted the capstan, I have good blow distance (1 7/8) and I think I should be good to go.

The double striking hammers (on pianissmo) all seem to want to bobble as if the knuckle is landing on the jack but I can't see how that is happening!

Do I sound confused??  It would help me greatly if the list could weigh in and share their thoughts. I have to go back to this piano tomorrow afternoon and I'd love to come back armed with new ideas.

Thanks everyone :)

Sean 

I replaced a set of wippens on a Steinway D  today and I have a little (big)  problem (opportunity ?) I wasn't expecting. Posting here for advice please.

The client has a NY Steinway D cir 1950​ and he is a musically advanced player. He plays very well and by my humble estimation plays at a virtuoso level.

He plays Chopin Etudes, Scriabin, Rachmaninoff and Beethoven and his music pushes the performance envelopes of the piano.

He has always had a concern/complaint about double strikes on pianissimo passages. It's been intermittent and impossible for him to duplicate for me.  I regulated the action and he called me the next day very pleased with the evenness of touch and the responsiveness of the action but he still reported getting double strikes in pianissimo passages. He would attempt to play them for me, but we could not duplicate. It seemed to disappear when I'm around.

The wippens are original and he asked me to replace them.  I used the Renner kit to match the replacement wippen and today I installed the new set.

I'm not sure what the heck is going on but now since replacing the wippens I have significant double strikes and hammer bobbling but mostly in one octave F2 to F3 and for the life of me I cannot figure out why?

I've set hammer blow, aligned jacks, adjusted backchecks, set letoff.... it should work! But it doesn't, granted it plays, but there is significant bobbling.

The most significant thing I think I can add is that when I changed wippens I needed to reduce capstan height to acheive the same hammer height and blow distance.  So there's something to that. I wish I knew why.

That' really the first thing in this project that I couldn't understand. The wippen matched exactly the old wippen minus the hammer rest cushion. That was slightly different, but the hammers don't rest on that anyway.  I couldn't understand why the new wippens changed the hammer height (blow distance) and required me to adjust the capstan to achieve the original blow distance.

But I don't think that would cause this problem..... I adjusted the capstan, I have good blow distance (1 7/8) and I think I should be good to go.

The double striking hammers (on pianissmo) all seem to want to bobble as if the knuckle is landing on the jack but I can't see how that is happening!

Do I sound confused??  It would help me greatly if the list could weigh in and share their thoughts. I have to go back to this piano tomorrow afternoon and I'd love to come back armed with new ideas.

Thanks everyone :)

Sean 

I replaced a set of wippens on a Steinway D  today and I have a little (big)  problem (opportunity ?) I wasn't expecting. Posting here for advice please.

The client has a NY Steinway D cir 1950​ and he is a musically advanced player. He plays very well and by my humble estimation plays at a virtuoso level.

He plays Chopin Etudes, Scriabin, Rachmaninoff and Beethoven and his music pushes the performance envelopes of the piano.

He has always had a concern/complaint about double strikes on pianissimo passages. It's been intermittent and impossible for him to duplicate for me.  I regulated the action and he called me the next day very pleased with the evenness of touch and the responsiveness of the action but he still reported getting double strikes in pianissimo passages. He would attempt to play them for me, but we could not duplicate. It seemed to disappear when I'm around.

The wippens are original and he asked me to replace them.  I used the Renner kit to match the replacement wippen and today I installed the new set.

I'm not sure what the heck is going on but now since replacing the wippens I have significant double strikes and hammer bobbling but mostly in one octave F2 to F3 and for the life of me I cannot figure out why?

I've set hammer blow, aligned jacks, adjusted backchecks, set letoff.... it should work! But it doesn't, granted it plays, but there is significant bobbling.

The most significant thing I think I can add is that when I changed wippens I needed to reduce capstan height to acheive the same hammer height and blow distance.  So there's something to that. I wish I knew why.

That' really the first thing in this project that I couldn't understand. The wippen matched exactly the old wippen minus the hammer rest cushion. That was slightly different, but the hammers don't rest on that anyway.  I couldn't understand why the new wippens changed the hammer height (blow distance) and required me to adjust the capstan to achieve the original blow distance.

But I don't think that would cause this problem..... I adjusted the capstan, I have good blow distance (1 7/8) and I think I should be good to go.

The double striking hammers (on pianissmo) all seem to want to bobble as if the knuckle is landing on the jack but I can't see how that is happening!

Do I sound confused??  It would help me greatly if the list could weigh in and share their thoughts. I have to go back to this piano tomorrow afternoon and I'd love to come back armed with new ideas.

Thanks everyone :)

Sean 

I replaced a set of wippens on a Steinway D  today and I have a little (big)  problem (opportunity ?) I wasn't expecting. Posting here for advice please.

The client has a NY Steinway D cir 1950​ and he is a musically advanced player. He plays very well and by my humble estimation plays at a virtuoso level.

He plays Chopin Etudes, Scriabin, Rachmaninoff and Beethoven and his music pushes the performance envelopes of the piano.

He has always had a concern/complaint about double strikes on pianissimo passages. It's been intermittent and impossible for him to duplicate for me.  I regulated the action and he called me the next day very pleased with the evenness of touch and the responsiveness of the action but he still reported getting double strikes in pianissimo passages. He would attempt to play them for me, but we could not duplicate. It seemed to disappear when I'm around.

The wippens are original and he asked me to replace them.  I used the Renner kit to match the replacement wippen and today I installed the new set.

I'm not sure what the heck is going on but now since replacing the wippens I have significant double strikes and hammer bobbling but mostly in one octave F2 to F3 and for the life of me I cannot figure out why?

I've set hammer blow, aligned jacks, adjusted backchecks, set letoff.... it should work! But it doesn't, granted it plays, but there is significant bobbling.

The most significant thing I think I can add is that when I changed wippens I needed to reduce capstan height to acheive the same hammer height and blow distance.  So there's something to that. I wish I knew why.

That' really the first thing in this project that I couldn't understand. The wippen matched exactly the old wippen minus the hammer rest cushion. That was slightly different, but the hammers don't rest on that anyway.  I couldn't understand why the new wippens changed the hammer height (blow distance) and required me to adjust the capstan to achieve the original blow distance.

But I don't think that would cause this problem..... I adjusted the capstan, I have good blow distance (1 7/8) and I think I should be good to go.

The double striking hammers (on pianissmo) all seem to want to bobble as if the knuckle is landing on the jack but I can't see how that is happening!

Do I sound confused??  It would help me greatly if the list could weigh in and share their thoughts. I have to go back to this piano tomorrow afternoon and I'd love to come back armed with new ideas.

Thanks everyone :)

Sean 

I replaced a set of wippens on a Steinway D  today and I have a little (big)  problem (opportunity ?) I wasn't expecting. Posting here for advice please.

The client has a NY Steinway D cir 1950​ and he is a musically advanced player. He plays very well and by my humble estimation plays at a virtuoso level.

He plays Chopin Etudes, Scriabin, Rachmaninoff and Beethoven and his music pushes the performance envelopes of the piano.

He has always had a concern/complaint about double strikes on pianissimo passages. It's been intermittent and impossible for him to duplicate for me.  I regulated the action and he called me the next day very pleased with the evenness of touch and the responsiveness of the action but he still reported getting double strikes in pianissimo passages. He would attempt to play them for me, but we could not duplicate. It seemed to disappear when I'm around.

The wippens are original and he asked me to replace them.  I used the Renner kit to match the replacement wippen and today I installed the new set.

I'm not sure what the heck is going on but now since replacing the wippens I have significant double strikes and hammer bobbling but mostly in one octave F2 to F3 and for the life of me I cannot figure out why?

I've set hammer blow, aligned jacks, adjusted backchecks, set letoff.... it should work! But it doesn't, granted it plays, but there is significant bobbling.

The most significant thing I think I can add is that when I changed wippens I needed to reduce capstan height to acheive the same hammer height and blow distance.  So there's something to that. I wish I knew why.

That' really the first thing in this project that I couldn't understand. The wippen matched exactly the old wippen minus the hammer rest cushion. That was slightly different, but the hammers don't rest on that anyway.  I couldn't understand why the new wippens changed the hammer height (blow distance) and required me to adjust the capstan to achieve the original blow distance.

But I don't think that would cause this problem..... I adjusted the capstan, I have good blow distance (1 7/8) and I think I should be good to go.

The double striking hammers (on pianissmo) all seem to want to bobble as if the knuckle is landing on the jack but I can't see how that is happening!

Do I sound confused??  It would help me greatly if the list could weigh in and share their thoughts. I have to go back to this piano tomorrow afternoon and I'd love to come back armed with new ideas.

Thanks everyone :)

Sean