Stéphane writes: >So I like setting the first and last hammer in each section at the correct > angle, copied from old hammers, Greetings, Umm, I don't copy the old hammer's angle, since factory production, (even on some very expensive pianos) often allows a less than optimum angle. Also, on actions with hammers previously replaced , I can't trust the last aftermarket job to be correct. I like my hammers to be just slightly (may two degrees) distal from perpendicular to the string, when they are new. This allows a greater length of time in which they are within a couple of degrees of exactly 90 degress to the string. As they wear a little, they come to exactly 90 degrees. If they begin at perfection, it is all downhill from there! Seems like I get a longer period of use in the optimum zone, this way. Bechsteins, for one, often have dramatic angles on them in the treble, so I don't make too much alteration to the original unless something else is too wrong to work with, (rare). regards, Ed Foote RPT http://www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/index.html www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html
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