Return Springs on a Baldwin 243

[Joseph Alkana]

Bill Ballard wrote:

> List,
> 
> I have a piano teacher with a legitimate complaint about repetition on a 
> 20 year-old Baldwin Studio Upright 243. The jack won't make it back 
> under the butt until the key returns, and sometimes not even them. The 
> butt and catcher leathers are also a synthetic which i would describe as 
> 220 grit.
> 
> My test for repetition is to use a finger of the LH as an up-stop, and 
> to find at what point lowering that stop will prevent to jack's return
> 
> The problem clears up when I lift the hammer rail for ~1mm lost motion 
> at the keyboard, but I'm uncomfortable leaving in a lost motion of this 
> size.
> 
> I did remove the spring rail and bend all springs to that the butt had a 
> minimum of return from the string (a bend going from 3pm to 5pm, as 
> viewed from the bass). The repetition didn't appear to have gained, and 
> now, the action is too slow in very quiet playing. So regardless of what 
> positive effect weakening the hammer springs in relation to the jack 
> spring might have, I'll have to backtrack from this to get a more 
> positive return in quiet playing.
> 
> I also changed one hammer butt for a brand new  Baldwin butt with 
> beautiful smooth buckskin, but once again it wasn't clear the the 
> dramatic step down in friction with real butt leather helped out the 
> jack's return. Starting over with a complete set of new butts is an option
> 
> Any ideas on improving repetition in this piano?
> 
> 
> Bill Ballard, RPT
> NH Chapter PTG
> 
> "Can you check out this middle C?. It "whangs' - (or twangs?)
>     Thanks so much, Ginger"
>     ...........Service Request
> +++++++++++++++++++++

Bill,
Just curious; do the whipens seem to be free? I ran across a dinosaur 
243 that clearly had the hammers returning before the whipens could 
drop. I wanted to repin the whipen flanges, but the dollars weren't 
there. Protek helped a lot. Also, it seemed that the introduction of a 
little back weight might have been in order.

Joseph Alkana