Thanks for your comment. The many manufacturer variations of action design solutions make this work particularly interesting for me. Tools like the Spurlock damper regulating jig, a tool I enjoy the benefits of, reflect choices made for practical reasons. We can shim the tool higher as needed. I have placed one Spurlock jig on top of another to fine tune the line of sprung sostenuto tabs once the key lift was in place. Worked really well...

Hi, David - Lots of good stuff there. Key height has to respect case parts and key pins, so the initial calculation should be assessed in the piano. Yes, for a Steinway, where the ends of the frontrail are brought down to the keybed by the cheekblocks, they should be doing their job when setting up the Keysteps. A stable connection is needed for them to be accurate. The Custom Keybed does hold them down, but a workaround can work fine on the bench if that is where you want to do the leveling (which I do). I bed and sample in the piano such that my setup on the bench, with or without the fancy tool, is accurate, and for a Steinway, gentle clamping of the guide pins is needed. I think it is possible for clamping to effect the balancerail, but if it does, the bedding should be checked. I do square obvious offenders right away, but when the keys are very far below level, the rest are better done after the first pass. I square the keys to the straightedge I am using. 1/32" crown over 4' is so small that it is mostly for a good tactile result. When done, I want the keys to feel level to the player. I don't think a key pounder is necessary. I manually push all the air out of punchings, cloth, and felt so results will be stable.

If the wippen heel cloth is tight enough and firm enough, it won't be a problem. Bolstering can help. I have used bushing cloth for this, but most recently I have used jute. It's rough enough to stay where put and compresses hardly at all. This not only tightens the cloth its threaded under, but also produces a smaller radius shape that also reduces the hazard of sharp-edged capstans.

Thanks, Kris. It's my iphone's interpretation but not bad for phone video.

I am only lifting keys and adding cut punchings to end keys to pre-set their height for key leveling and sampling. A version of this can be used in a pinch, say before a concert when it would take to much time to pull off the topstack to insert a whole punching. I replace the cut punchings with whole ones the next time the topstack comes off in the course of regulating (probably after round one of key leveling).

Thank you. Please check out the options at grandwork.tools. And reach out through the contact form if I can help you choose best options.

I think the problem was ambient noise from an air filtering device behind me. Sorry about that.

I totally agree - a terrible key covering job. Had to choose my battlegrounds and the other improvements needed were very expensive. And the solution, keytop-wise, to these keys also very expensive as so much material was crudely removed... Thanks for pointing out this symptom of challenges we face as piano technicians.

Thanks for your comment. I am only looking for movement or no movement from the indicator. Key level and tool adjustment don't affect this. Did the balancerail move or not? For that the dial indicator is very sensitive. Either approach, tool or knock, will be challenged by coarse thread of glidebolt and excessive friction from return spring, if you don't take it out. A hazard of the knocking method can be cantilevering the backrail and if that produces no symptom in our validation, we can chase our tail setting up on the bench thinking the backrail is on the keybed. A hard question to fully answer is if there are no symptoms, does it matter. Anyway, I've found the Bedding Tool helpful in assuring that all rails are on the keybed.

Babt, I think, would be a new idea... Cheers!

Removing lead from the front of a key will enhance its repetition. When hammers have been filed, they become lighter, so what was acceptable in the original weighoff may become unacceptable. If a key will lift 20 grams, returning its hammer to rest, repetition will not be an issue. But if less, it may be. If an action had weight problems and you have improved things by changing parts, tweaking geometry, or reducing friction, you may have created a situation where lead generally must be removed. This is a good thing. You did good work, assuming the regulation has not paid a price, say by requiring a short blow distance or too deep a dip. Reducing the overall amount of lead has the benefit of reducing the overall inertia, which will make the piano play more responsively at pianissimo and more comfortable at fortissimo. Whenever improving what you receive, run samples to understand the full extent of the work that will be involved.

Cheers, Sida - Glad they have been helpful.

It is simple and can be effective. All's fair in love and keyframe bedding - maybe especially when re-creating it on a bench!

It will help a performer. Changing a key's balance is only "necessary" when there is insufficient upweight and sometimes that can be solved by removing excess friction.

There are two forms of the Custom Keybed. They both have the same functional items on top and work the same way, but offer two price points. The less expensive CK Deluxe places these items on a 5' x 2.5' piece of MDF, partly to help in shipping but also useful as a panel to add to a bench or other form of support. The CK Full Monte has its own panel and understructure. This, again, can be supported by a bench or other understructure that you provide, but it is designed to coordinate with the Electric Base. Also, it is setup to work with Tool Trays and Lighting Rail Long. See grandwork.tools for more info, including cost.

Hi, Robbie - Here, I'm referring to the sustain pedal. The keyframe and keybed need to stay in contact when the pedal lyre is levering the keybed during pedaling - I use the sustain pedal to try and simulate the most leverage it will get during play. My latest blog offering at grandwork.tools discusses exactly this!

@@chrisbrownrpt thank you!!

No. I set it so the rep lever shares some weight of the knuckle/shank/hammer to aid the jack's return (mostly by its positive pressure to enhance wippen and key return) but provides hammerline stability and positive key/wippen/hammer response/no lost motion. I make sure the jack will reseat on a soft/slow return, i.e., assure that the reset will never fail. Depending on knuckle wear and shape, I find the amount of winking that indicates the best combination of smooth letoff, fast repetition, and complete reset. Rep lever center pin friction and firm spring tension (but no pop) are important. Thanks for the leading question, Kris.

@@chrisbrownrpt thanks for all your info and help!

I don't have a recipe - my bad - I tend to take some of the hot hide glue of normal viscosity and water it down a lot. Or just stir in maybe a quarter of what I normally would add, and then water down more as needed. Either way, I'm aimed at the most watery mixture that will stay on my small bristle brush from jar to key. I want it to sink in to swell and reinforce the wood, not coat it. Glue in contact with pin or punching would not be good.

@@chrisbrownrpt ok thank you, that helps!

The practice quickly becomes boring to watch. The theory and principles help you understand how this works and why it's a good idea to do it this way.

its in a workshop its just the keys and hammers

hes adjusting the sound and weight

He sells them at his grandworks tools website.

Interesting view... Suggestions welcome.

If your hammers are side-by-side on a flat surface, flanges against a straight edge of some sort, you can observe the crowns and shoulders as you go. I use a tray for this setup. Inevitably, we service actions played more in one section than another, more in one key than another. The hammers may start out different sizes from a previous technician's filing. Or the hammers may be out of order! This can sometimes happen in the factory with odd flaring being a symptom. Observing and acknowledging such irregularities will alert you to not file such the same but rather as individuals to assure continuity. This will look better, of course, but it will probably mean that hammer weight and crown height/density will also have better continuity, which can eliminate unnecessary and possibly inappropriate voicing. Unfortunately, we're stuck with making hammers uniform with the smallest and possibly least desirable individuals. But the continuity helps players make music and they won't have larger neighbors to know that the smaller ones sound worse or feel better or worse. I always take as little felt off to achieve a good shape and leave no trace of wearmarks as possible. And then I take clusters in hand or sight them on the flat surface to find any that stand out as larger than neighbors. It's easy at the Hammer Filing Jig to take another pass or two to even them out. Also, it's easy to improve the shape of distorted or unbalanced hammers. Having said that, I only use the jig for flared hammers, waiting to gang file the straight-bored sections because I can achieve better continuity this way. But gang filing will distort the shapes of flared hammers, thus I use the jig. Filing flared hammers by hand individually is tiring work and hard to maintain best shape. Both alternatives to using the jig threaten the shape of the crown. If the crown is correct and horizontal at strike (body of the hammer vertical), you can fit strings to hammers, leveling and mating in one step - without distorting the shape of the crown. That's my ideal pre-voicing. Some hammers have too much flare angle per side-to-side space available and must be tilted for clearance. Then you must do what is most expedient. Often, if they're bicords in the bass, the strings can be unlevel enough to accommodate. But vertical is better. And size continuity is better, perhaps even if you have to gang file flared hammers. I always try to have my cake and eat it too. But well...

@@chrisbrownrpt Thanks Chris!

Tricky to do it in the piano. And trickier to take that out to the bench, position it, and mark it on your rack's rail. The answer is to use the action, properly bedded, and its hammers, who contact the spacing of the strings at strike. Carbon paper can mark hammers that have no wearmarks. Hammers that do have wearmarks carry the spacing info you need in those wearmarks if you can accurately set them up on the bench at strike. And if you can, your template will be set at that height and the scale can then be transferred from the wearmarks or carbon marks onto the strike edge of the template.

Yes, but I have found Dampp-Chaser additive more effective.

So pre-voicing is always necessary, but needling isn't always advisable from the start. When it comes to prevoicing you will always need to square up the hammers and on most hammers I have come accross it is advisable to peel the outer layer of felt and ensure they are the shape you want. This is usually done with a higher grit sandpaper as the goal is not to take felt away, but to take away outer fuzz on the hammers that you get when you take them out of the package and tail them. Now the next step depends on the hammers. There are 2 main styles of hammers which are voice up and voice down hammers. Voice down hammers are hammers that come out of the package a bit on the hard side and those often times need to be needled several times. For example I have found that with renner hammers you may voice them down to where you want them and come back the next day and they will have bounced back to being a bit sharp. Now this doesn't always happen so it is best to go to where you want and come back. Now on the flip side you have voice up hammers which are hammers that tend to come a bit on the soft side. Those usually require voicing up techniques which generally are about peeling the soft outer felt away and potentially juicing them with diluted hardening solution. Now some hammers like abel hammers will be almost exactly where you want it out of the box requiring only the basic squaring up and peeling along with evening out any hammers that stick out. This is my personal preference since I feel that I often don't have to do all that much to the hammer and given felts tendency to compact and harden over time I prefer to start soft and let the piano brighten with age. I tend to be of the opinion of you want to do as little voicing to hammers as possible as all voicing is damage done to the hammer, but actually getting any hard facts on this kind of thing is tough considering that a good set of hammers should last at least 20 year in a normal home. So I would call this more of a gut feeling sort of thing than anything factual or known. But every piano is different and some pianos may want a harder hammer while others may benefit from a softer hammer. If the piano warrants a harder hammer or the build is being done for someone who may be more of a jazz/ragtime musician then you may want to stick with voice down hammers while a classical pianist may prefer a softer voice up hammer. There is no short cut to learning voicing other than doing a lot of voicing. You can know the theory, but at the end of the day its a skill that takes practice and every technician will have their preference. One style is not better than the other, but they are different.

These were existing hammers that the customer wanted to keep. They had a somewhat harsh sound that when filed would brighten. The improved verticality and mating would add a clarity that I felt would benefit by gradient on the crown and more flex in the shoulders. I personally like Ronsen Wickert or Abel Naturals or Renner Blues, depending on the piano, but I have enjoyed working other versions from each of these makers. Since I have done preparation and regulation away from the piano, a conservative approach to what I know I will have to do at the piano bears the fruit of a favorable first impression for the customer when the action is put back in the piano. I still will have some work pitch adjusting, settling wire, and mating wire to hammers (because hammers are vertical at strike, mating and leveling happen in the same operation). When I have completed this work and have a finished tuning, much or most of my voicing has been done. Whatever further voicing may be necessary, the final fit needs its mating to be stable at pitch and in tune. The pre-voicing supports this approach well. Both the shoulder voicing and the compass needle voicing give you feedback as you go. I know the feel of what I am hoping for and what I may have to fight against. Doing the least to get to that hoped-for place is the art, more cost-effective and best for the hammers' longevity. When in doubt, wait to hear a sample of what you think in the piano. So, to answer your second question, I will do a version of this approach whenever I feel it will be beneficial and not detrimental. First of all, we must do no harm, but second of all, we must do something, and hopefully the something that is needed. That is what we're hired for. Sometimes that something is to leave what you have because it sounds great or it pleases the customer. At some point in every job, this is what we have to do. Call it done. But it takes a lot of energy to finish up. And shoulder needling takes a lot of energy, so having some of it done ahead of the final passes helps, both to be already part way there, but also to start from a better-sounding place. A mental fore-image of the dynamic range your work will yield and the power and the quality of voice guides you to the appropriate version of preparatory pre-voicing.

@@zackeryhardy9504 Thanks for your thoughtful response, Zachery.

Thanks, Kristopher!

Sorry about that, Jorge. Amateur self-video-making... I'll work on a better solution.

Thanks!

I am using a heated very watery hot hide glue. This has advantages of soaking in, even with glue already there, drying hard, and not leaving a residue that might add unwanted friction or a noise.

What’s the rough ratio of water to hide glue?

Thanks, Kris!

You are effectively increasing the thickness of wool cloth between capstan and wood of whippen heel. Also, the surface quality of the material is improved by cleansing of DC additive, combing of brass wire brushing, and swelling from water penetrating into the wool with the help of DC treatment.

It restores the whippen heel shape, improving slide path with capstan, reducing friction and possibly reducing noise.

I have four protocols available from grandwork.tools/collections/training-materials/products/digital-protocols-set-of-4 for free. They are in outline form and serve well as a checklist to keep things in best order and make sure something isn't overlooked.

I set them on a tray and view my results. Those that are taller I file again until all match. Unfortunately this means filing to your most worn hammers, but practically, the voice and regulation will have more consistency. If the hammers are too worn to benefit from this style filing, they should be replaced. Blow distance is regulated once the hammers are back on, traveled, squared, and spaced. Springs, rep levers, and jack position should also be regulated before your final hammer line (blow distance), of course.

Check out just-uploaded "Filing Straight-Bored Hammers", an excerpt from a series of videos available at grandwork.tools/collections/training-materials/products/grandwork-grand-regulating-video.