Quick and dirty...lower drop a tad. If you are doing a nice tight regulation on an older action, the existing checking system will be challenged, and checking will be horrible. Lowering drop takes the rep lever and spring out of the picture, and check is less challenged. This, like I said, is the quick and dirty fix. You may have noticed that older unregulated actions often have great checking. The reason is,that drop has usually sunk way, way low. Low drop takes the spring out of the picture. So, although bringing drop up, is essential to really nice touch, the further drop is brought up, the more the spring and rep lever will keep the tail from checking. This means the checking system has to be in good condition and fine regulation, to survive nice high drop.
Lowering drop a tad, also keeps the double strike from happening, even if check still is not happening. The hammer may bobble silently, but it won't double strike.
Lowering letoff to 2mm will allow you to have letoff and drop in a good synchronous relationship, so if you want to retain the nice "second keyboard" bump of synchronicity, lower both letoff and drop a tad.
At conventions teachers will promote tight regulation specs. However, if you try to apply tight specs to a tired action, you'll leave a trail of poorly checking actions, unless you dealt with the checking geometry and/or busckskin. Both of the true fixes to the checks take a fair amount of time to accomplish.
------------------------------
Jim Ialeggio
grandpianosolutions.com
Shirley, MA
978 425-9026
------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 05-18-2020 14:38
From: Petrus Janssen
Subject: Bobbling Grand Tenor Hammers on a Soft Blow
Raise the hammer to create more after touch helps in many cases but if the rep spring tension is obviously too strong, reduce its tension
------------------------------
Petrus Janssen
Peachtree City GA
678-416-8055
Original Message:
Sent: 05-18-2020 14:21
From: Carl Radford
Subject: Bobbling Grand Tenor Hammers on a Soft Blow
I have often had the problem over the years, especially on Steinway grands, of bobbling tenor hammers on a soft pianissimo or piano blow. The hammer doesn't quite catch the back check and lightly double or triple strikes the string. I'm only talking about grands here, and generally only in the tenor area, although it can sometimes carry down into the bass below the break. I have played around with reducing the spring tension, and of course many variations on backcheck angles and alignments, as well as dip variations, but it doesn't generally help much. The one thing I haven't tried much is roughing up the hammer tails, but I'm concerned it would chew up the backcheck leather, and besides I don't want to have a checkered past. But I'll try that or anything else short of superglue and velcro...
------------------------------
Carl Radford, RPT
Radford Piano Services, Inc. | Chicago, Illinois
Ph: (773) 761-KEYS (5397) | Web: www.radfordpiano.com |
Email: radfordpiano@gmail.com |
------------------------------