Reducing weight was RE: older kawai whippen assist springs

[J Patrick Draine]

I suggest being very thorough in your actions to minimize friction in  
the action centers. Sometimes when very slowly returning hammers are  
the most glaringly obvious problem in a Baldwin console, I've found  
that wippen flanges and even jack flanges have high friction levels.  
More repinning than I was planning on, but the results are worth it.
Patrick Draine

On Nov 22, 2005, at 9:08 PM, Alan Barnard wrote:

> I have a customer with a Baldwin console who has MS and I really  
> need to lighten the action for her if possible.
>
> After minimizing friction, adjusting the dampers so they lift a  
> little later in the cycle, what else can make a difference?
>
> Can you/should you shave and cove hammers like you can in a grand?
>
> Weaken the return springs a little?
>
> Add lead?
>
> Any ideas on what's worth doing here?
>
> Alan Barnard
> Salem, Missouri
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Dean May
> To: Pianotech
> Sent: 11/22/2005 7:26:07 PM
> Subject: RE: older kawai whippen assist springs
>
> I would take some weight out of the hammers. For every gram you  
> take out you’ll reduce downweight by 5-6 grams. Plus what really  
> makes a piano feel like a heavy touch is the inertial weight, not  
> static down weight. Adjusting the whippensprings will not reduce  
> the inertial weight. Only removing actual weight will do this,  
> which taking weight out of hammers does.
>
>
>
> How do you take weight out of hammers? Get a tail shaping jig from  
> Spurlock. Cut an arc on your disc sander. You can also taper the  
> hammer sides on the disc sander. Get a drug dealers scale off ebay  
> that measures to the tenth of a gram (cost about $30) to precisely  
> keep track of how much weight you are taking off each hammer. You  
> don’t want to take too much off or your upweight will go too low  
> and the action will seem sluggish.
>
>
>
> The last Young Chang I did reduced static down weight by 10+ grams  
> (from 58-65 down to around 50). I even took one lead weight out of  
> each key to bring up the weight up a little. That’s weight out of  
> the hammer and lead weight out of the key. All in all I took about 4 
> + lbs of weight out of the action (that translates into inertial  
> weight reduction) and the results were phenomenal. The customer had  
> some serious arthritis issues and I needed to make a dramatic  
> reduction.
>
>
>
> I still have a lot to learn on balancing an action but I am really  
> happy with what I’ve been able to accomplish. My understanding is  
> that if you don’t take any actual weight out of the action you will  
> not reduce the inertial weight, and that is what really makes an  
> action feel heavy.
>
>
>
> Dean
>
> Dean May             cell 812.239.3359
>
> PianoRebuilders.com   812.235.5272
>
> Terre Haute IN  47802
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org]  
> On Behalf Of TOM DRISCOLL
> Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2005 7:41 PM
> To: Pianotech
> Subject: older kawai whippen assist springs
>
>
>
> List,
>
>     I'm servicing an older (1970 ish) Kawai grand tomorrow with  
> very heavy touch.
>
>     I'll be doing the usual ,i.e. easing tight balance rail holes ,  
> key bushings, polish and lube keypins , capstans, lube knuckles,  
> rep levers, jacks , regulate----yada yada yada.
>
>
>
>     My question is about these whippen assist springs-- I'm  
> prepared to experiment and figure it out, but am wondering if  
> anybody has some guidelines-tips for regulating these.
>
>     Thanks and best wishes to all for a safe holiday.
>
>     Tom Driscoll RPT
>
>
>
>