That's what I gather...the question is, who wants to pay to have a brand new piano's action corrected?? In this case, the magic line = the bottom line....:-} Dave -----Original Message----- From: Farrell <mfarrel2 at tampabay.rr.com> To: Pianotech List <pianotech at ptg.org> Sent: Fri, 12 Oct 2007 8:24 am Subject: Re: capstan replacement on Bohemia 185 Capstan friction isn't a big deal if you don't have any, or if it is acceptably low. On a?properly set up action you won't have much is any friction loss there anyway because the capstan/heel interface will be on the magic line at half blow. ? On a poorly set up action - likely like the one you describe - one can reduce friction a lot by polishing an otherwise rough capstan. If the interface is not on the magic line, that capstan will be doing quite a bit of traveling along the wip heel during key movement. ? So the bottom line is that on a well set up action, capstan friction likely isn't a big deal. But on a poorly set up action it can be very big deal indeed. Polishing is great, but it would be best to correct the?action geometry also. ? Terry Farrell ----- Original Message ----- I've heard it said that capstan friction isn't a big deal because the amount of sideways motion of the capstan against the wippen heal is minimal.? I found it interesting, then, that on a new Bohemia 185 I felt some roughness when playing, and was able to isolate it to the capstan/wippen heel interface.? The surface of the capstans was sort of rough, and in some instances had pronounced burrs, as well as overly defined (IMHO) edges.? As a temporary fix, I teflonned the heels. Bohemia (now owned by Bechstein, btw, for better or worse) said that they'd go with my recommendation to replace the capstans and re-regulate the blow distance.? The new capstans--of a completely different, polished texture-- arrived a couple of weeks ago.? I completed the agreed-upon task tonight, and when I got the action back in the piano, the difference was absolutely astonishing.? The action felt entirely different, far faster and more controllable.? Both the owner and I were quite surprised and pleased at the difference. Now who was it that said that capstan friction is no big to deal?? I beg to differ! Thanks for reading, Dave ________________________________________________________________________ Email and AIM finally together. You've gotta check out free AOL Mail! - http://mail.aol.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20071012/8019ddb6/attachment-0001.html
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