More off the wall stuff

[David Love]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Ballard" <yardbird@vermontel.net>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: January 17, 2003 6:23 PM
Subject: Re: More off the wall stuff

"... Like David Love's Lady or the Tiger: friction or DW?..."

Bill:

An interesting follow up to this.  As you recall the original action weighed
at 42g BW and 49 - 50g DW, i.e. very low friction.  When I replaced the
hammers and shanks, I rebalanced the weight at 38g BW.  With the new
friction readings that gave about a 51g DW in the middle.  Changes to the FW
pattern were minimal 1-3 grams on average still in the 85% range of maximum.
Recall that she didn't want any real change in the touchweight.  When she
first sat down she said, "Oh, it seems a little lighter".  But after she
played it for awhile, she said "Well, I'm not really sure if it's heavier or
lighter, but it feels like butter."  Real quantifiable stuff, eh.  Anyway,
that was a good thing.  Heavier or lighter, she felt that she could feel the
key all the way through the stroke.  She was happy.  Confirms my current
sentiment about default settings:  38 g balance weight with a friction range
of 15 g in the bass to 10 g in the treble and FW's of about 85% of maximum
makes for a really nice action.  For concert instruments, I prefer to go up
to 40 g balance weight.  The bit of adrenalin that performers get
neutralizes that extra bit of weight and keeps the action from running away
from them if they get too excited.

David Love