New WNG carbon fiber action parts

[Mike Spalding]

Jude Reveley/Absolute Piano wrote:
> *As a general practice I like to custom bore my hammers to account for 
> the string height indescrepencies (and yes this throws off any ideal 
> geometric design). I cut the tails to be consistent throughout the 
> whole set (generally 1") and I also cut my own coves. The inside 
> bottom edge of the hammer tail is also sanded down for weight control 
> and clearance, and I believe this is what you will find on all hammers 
> that have been prepped by the hammer manufacturer. Since this edge is 
> on the other side of the backcheck, it has nothing to do with 
> checking. I believe you''re referring to the radius of the tail. 
> WNG is introducing a jig for arcing tails along with their process of 
> installing backchecks, which appropriately marries the two along with 
> the strikeline. I've beta-tested their system and am happy to report 
> that it's the best method out there for achieving reliably tight 
> checking at all dynamics.* 
>  
> Yes, I also custom bore, cove, and arc.  1" tails, sometimes a little 
> longer.  Weight removal is optimized when the arc and the cove 
> approach within a millimeter or so at the tip of the tail.  Pictures 
> attached are not this M&H A, but they do illustrate my favored 
> arc-cove relationship.  Removing material from the inside of the cove 
> where it hits the wippen would intersect with the arc, shortening the 
> tail.  Or compromising arc shape or weight reduction.  That's what I 
> was trying to express with my "reliable checking" comment.  It's true 
> that this configuration evolved over time to try to avoid having to 
> cove out the back of Steinway backchecks to clear the sostenuto rail, 
> so maybe we can reconfigure for this job and clear the wip.  But it 
> will be close.
>  
> *That's an interesting one. If you can't get longer buttons I think 
> you can get longer screws. Steinway has about five or six different 
> options for let-off button sizes. It all comes down to geometry. *
Yes, we know where to get longer buttons.  And we've already modified 
the wippen rail.  Neither one is rocket science, nor a deal-breaker, but 
these things add up.
> *On my Mason A, we made a new balancerail and custom built the 
> keyboard to match the parts on the topstack. This isn't always an 
> option so you have to figure out what's going to work. *
No, we're building a new keyboard.  And we've got standard M&H center to 
strike distance of 5" / 127mm now, so it doesn't make sense to move the 
stack to increase that.
> *Have you checked out the "magic line" at half stroke? This is a new 
> product and let's face it, you're the guinea pig. Me too, so welcome 
> to the club. You can go for it and do what you gotta do to make it 
> work and feel the gratification for pulling it off,  or you can go 
> with a standard part that you've already verified is going to 
> work with minimal fuss, it's your call. IMHO I can deal with the 
> whippen rail modification and the let-off buttons but I don't like 
> what I'm hearing about the drop screws. Something's wrong with the 
> geometry. Can you provide specs for regulation, center heights (rep & 
> hammer), string heights, hammer bore distance, and hammer center to 
> strike?
> *
This is a collaborative project in another tech's shop,  so I can't get 
those measurements right away.  I can say that when we compared the 3 
wippens (original, black, and Renner) there was much thicker cushion on 
the end of the original rep lever than on either of the new wippens.  
There may have also been minor differences in relationship between jack 
tip and tender.  Magic line for capstain/wip heel is fine.  Not sure 
about jack/knuckle, although the jack is parallel to knuckle core at rest.

As for doing what we have to do, and gratification:  I get as much 
satisfaction as the next guy (maybe even more) from overcoming difficult 
obstacles, but I see little point in dealing with the same avoidable 
ones over and over.  There are numerous examples from the history of our 
craft, of techs informing manufacturers or suppliers of a problem, and 
being told "we've never heard of that before" or "no-one else has had 
that problem", leaving the tech to find a solution on his own.  Later, 
we learn that it is indeed a widespread problem, we learn how others 
have cleverly figured out how to work around it, and the 
manufacturer/supplier eventually corrects the defect.  This forum is an 
excellent tool for shortening that cycle.  Thank you for taking the time 
to share details of what you've done to make these parts fit, and to 
compare our action geometry with yours (once I can get a few more 
dimensions to you).  If all users of these parts can share their 
combined experiences, we'll get the bugs out that much sooner.

Mike
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