Hi Stan, The tails should be about 1" from underside of shank to tail end. DO not shorten them to less than 1" It is likely in the extreme that you have heavy hammers. I would change them out for a lighter set. Faster, easier and far less aggravating. You will have to take off LOTS of felt and wood to get them down to a proper weight. You might also consider moving the capstans forward a bit. To determine the optimum location requires a little algebra, a digital scale, a calibrated set of key weights and patience. David Stanwood covered this material well in past posts. Look in the archives under "New Metrology". Get the action kit from Renner America so you can mix and match wippens and shanks to get the optimum combination for which weight of hammer you expect to use. Hammer weights have to do with the power of the notes, not anything else within normal configuration. Tone has to do with the density, elasticity and resilience of the felt. Newton
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