[pianotech] Vertical Touchweight

[Floyd Gadd]

List,

I continue to fuss with the touch responsiveness of my 41"
Nordheimer/Heintzman console (1966).  After moving forward from reweighting
the keys to some final regulating, I remained unsatisfied with my results.
The question of how to deal with the influence of the hammer return springs
was eluding me.

I found a post in the archives by Stephen Schell (November 18, 1996) under
the title "Small vertical key flop". He recommended weighting the keys to an
upweight target of 15 grams, with the hammer held out of the way.
Downweight was then set by regulating the hammer return spring.

I've tried this on a sample, and it makes a tremendous difference.  Key
return is no longer dependent on either the damper spring or the hammer
return spring.  Downweight is at 46 and upweight is at 35.  This is
consistent with the small Yamaha upright I am using as a basis for
comparison.  And the Yamaha upright has an upweight of something more than
16 grams with the hammer taken out of the equation.

So now I need to reweight my keys again, adding more weight behind the
balance rail, and weakening my hammer springs.

Who was it on this list that said recently that any job worth doing is worth
doing over?

Floyd Gadd
Manitoba Chapter