Key weighting

Ted Simmons ted@brevard.net
Thu, 5 Nov 1998 05:31:24 -0500


Hi List,
  I received a call from a regular customer of mine who owns an Everett
studio upright and wants me to add weights to the keys to make the touch
firmer.  She has just switched to a new piano teacher who owns a grand and
the touch is so much heavier than her piano.  Her piano teacher had weights
added to her piano when she was young and in the learning phase.
   I told her that it's possible that her teacher's piano has a heavier
touch because it is out of regulation.  Anyhow, I stopped by the customer's
place to do a touchweight measurement and sure enough, the touch on her
piano was pretty light.  The downweight was 40 grams and the upweight was
OK at 25 grams.  Now, I need to know if anyone has done this to an upright
before and how should I go about giving her piano a heavier touch.  I feel
that just attaching lead weights to the back of the key would make the
piano uncontrollable,  much like a seesaw with a light person on one end
and a heavy person on the other end.  I have tuned this customer's piano
for the past 10 years and want to keep her.  Any suggestions will be
greatly appreciated.

Ted Simmons
Merritt Island, FL




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