[pianotech] An alternative to cutting the balance rail punching; was best way to change touch on Yamaha grand

[David Skolnik]

David -
I'm not seeing how you could accomplish this without weakening the 
wood in front of the balance hole.
David Skolnik
Hastings on Hudson, NY


At 09:27 AM 2/11/2010, you wrote:
>I was thinking about this procedure and it occurred to me that you 
>could simply rout out a shallow "u" shape right in front of the 
>balance rail hole on the bottom of the key.  In my case I use very 
>thin balance rail punchings (those red hitch pin punchings because I 
>don't like to have to deal with balance rail punching compression 
>and the thinner red punching is less prone to compression) so 
>cutting those runs the risk of the key rocking onto the supporting 
>card punching underneath.   Seems like routing out a small channel 
>in front of the balance rail hole (you could even do it with a 
>rounded file) would accomplish the same thing since the idea is 
>simply to avoid key contact with the punching as the key rotates 
>forward.  For that matter, doing that in manufacturing would 
>somewhat obviate the need for the balance rail bearing.
>
>David Love
>www.davidlovepianos.com
>
>From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] 
>On Behalf Of Al Guecia/AlliedPianoCraft
>Sent: Thursday, February 11, 2010 6:07 AM
>To: pianotech at ptg.org
>Subject: Re: [pianotech] Al in N.C.--Question on procedure was- Best 
>way to change touch in Yamaha grand
>
>Julia, yes the key is upside down with the back-check in front of 
>you and the covered key away from you. I square up the front of the 
>key and I cut down toward the front of the key.
>
>If that's not clear, let me know and I will cut one and take a 
>photo. I don't know how to add a drawing.
>