Charles Walter regulation

[Billbrpt@AOL.COM]

---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment
In a message dated 4/17/01 7:49:03 AM Central Daylight Time, ILEENKM@AOL.COM 
writes:


> Hi LIst- I am about to start regulating a Charles Walter studio upright. It 
> has the  split type hammer rail, with part of it screwed to the brackets 
> and 
> the center section  which pushes the hammers forward  attached to the  soft 
> pedal . What is the best way to regulate the hammer blow distance on this 
> type of action?   

To shorten the blow distance, you could place some thin strips of felt, 
cardboard or veneer between the rail and the part that moves but I caution 
you to be very sure that this is what you want to do.

In most books or manuals on regulation, the very first thing you are told to 
do is "set the blow distance".  Many people make the mistake of making some 
kind of measurement with a ruler and proceed to make the blow distance far to 
short.  This, first of all, causes a loss of power and control by putting far 
too much Aftertouch in the final outcome.  But it may also cause the 
regulator to make other totally unnecessary adjustments, particularly the 
damper spoons.

Virtually all verticals are initially set up with a deliberately short blow 
distance because all of the material that supports that distance will slowly 
compress.  Also, as the hammer wears, it will become shorter, increasing the 
blow distance.

The best approach will be to change as little as possible.  Keep that in mind 
as you work.

If the hammers need filing, do so.  Check for loose pinning and repin where 
necessary.  Tighten all flanges.  Space, travel and straighten (burn) hammer 
shanks.  With the action in the piano, take up any lost motion there may be 
at this point.  Now, check key level.  Again, don't measure or go by some 
arbitrary key height specification. Simply take a straight edge, pick out the 
worst of the lowest keys first, slip in punchings under the balance rail felt 
until you have corrected all the dips in the white keys.  Once they are 
level, do the same with the sharps.  Don't ever leave paper punchings on top 
of the felts!

Now, check and correct let-off.  In a vertical, don't try to get it as close 
as you do in a grand, particularly if the hammers have been filed quite a 
bit.  1/8" is OK in many cases.  In most instances, this will mean from 1-3 
half turn cranks counterclockwise.  Any more than that, suspect that 
something is wrong.  Make sure the let off button rail is firmly and properly 
attached and that the action is firmly and properly seated.

Now, look at how much Aftertouch there is.  If there is a lot and the key dip 
is deep, fill the white keys in using a dip block or simply fill in until the 
Aftertouch is comfortable but the dip is not significantly more shallow than 
the dip block.  Fill in the black key dip to match the Aftertouch of the 
white keys.  When the black key is fully depressed, it should come to rest 
still slightly above the plane of the white keys, never "burying" themselves 
between them.

Now, without ever having adjusted the Blow Distance at all, nor the damper 
spoons or Backchecks, does the action work well?  Do the dampers lift 
properly?  Do the hammers fall into check conveniently?

If there is very little or no Aftertouch, the dampers lift late and the 
hammers check too far from the strings, this is the time to shorten the blow 
distance.  Before shimming the rail, simply raise the capstan on a few test 
hammers to find the point where things start working properly.  Chances are 
that this will be a minimal amount.  It will probably only take some thin 
shims to shorten the Blow Distance sufficiently.

The whole point is that it is assumed that the action was set up originally 
to work the best possible, allowing for natural compression and wear.  The 
task of regulation is to simply *compensate* for the changes that have 
occurred, not establish all new parameters.  Of course, you may still have to 
make *minor* adjustments to the backchecks and damper spoons but any of these 
adjustments should be slight. otherwise trouble may be expected.

>From my 32 years experience doing this work, I can tell you that the first 
and the biggest mistake that people make is to prop up the blow distance all 
too short and really make a nightmare out of the whole project.  *Most* of 
the time, you won't need to adjust it at all and if anything, it will be a 
very small amount.  *Less* is *more*.

Good luck.

Bill Bremmer RPT
Madison, Wisconsin

---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/68/d3/5a/de/attachment.htm

---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--