Touch weight

[Fred Sturm]

WIm,
	I just want to add one thing to what others have written. You wrote that 
you would be doing some lubrication and pinning, hoping this would "get 
better upweight measurements." Whatever you to to friction will affect both 
up and down weight. Increase in friction will increase DW, and decrease UW. 
And decreasing friction will do the opposite - decrease DW and increase UW.
	If you start with balance weight, adding the frictional component to it 
will give you downweight. Subtracting the frictional component from it will 
give you upweight.
	So pinning will probably increase friction (assuming that you are pinning 
for additional firmness and friction), thereby increasing DW and decreasing 
UW. Lubing will do the opposite.
	Lubing a modern Steinway action center is different from any other center. 
Ron Coners and Eric Schandall say to use a very tiny, controlled amount of 
methanol. Ron talks about applying it with the end of an awl. The idea is 
not to wash out the teflon which impregnates the cloth. This doesn't 
actually lubricate, it just dissolves the teflon a bit and resizes it to 
the pin. If you apply methanol in a "broadcast" method - just soaking 
everything - you are likely to end up with a mess. At worst, next to no 
friction and spongy centers, or so I'm told. (This is not from my own 
experience, but from various things I've heard from various people.) And 
Protek has no noticeable affect, or very, very little.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico

--On Monday, December 15, 2003 4:41 PM -0800 Wim Blees wrote
>
> __________________________________________________
> From: caut-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces@ptg.org] On Behalf Of
> Wimblees@aol.com Sent: Monday, December 15, 2003 3:27 PM
> To: caut@ptg.org
> Subject: Touch weight
>
>
>
> I've just done complete down and up weight measurement on the new D. From
> C1 - F2, the down weight is between 52 and 55 grams. The rest is between
> 47 and 50, with a few 45's and 46's in the 7th octave. Upweight is
> generally between 27 and 30 grams, with some as low as 25 and a couple as
> high as 34.
> The Piano Action Handbook says down should be 51-52 in the bass
> graduating to 47 in the treble, with up weights at 20. After Christmas
> I'm going to lube all centers and check for pinning. Hopefully I'll get
> better upweight measurements. Is this about what you guys are going for?
> BTW, is TW the difference between down and up, or am I missing something
> in the calculation?
> Wim
>