I Sense Some Friction Between Us
Recently, I was beginning to regulate a 1970's Baldwin L when it became clear that there some friction issues that needed to be addressed before I could move on with the actual regulation adjustments. The issue of friction can seem elusive so it's worth a deeper look into friction and it's impact on regulation.
Friction can be what separates a good piano from a great one. Friction changes the feel of the action. It can even change the piano's tone. Cumulative friction can cause a piano to be almost unplayable but is something that can be methodically dealt with by treating the specific areas with the appropriate lubrication.
Completely eliminating friction is not the goal though. There is a certain amount of friction built into the action that gives the pianist dynamic control. If there were no friction anywhere the action parts would move without restraint and there would be no way to finesse expressive dynamics from the action. For instance, flange bushings need to have some friction and different flanges require different amounts of friction (resistance measurements can be taken by putting grams weights on the flange or with a gram gauge). Loose bushings will need to be repined and tight bushing reamed to the proper resistance. The proper resistance for jacks is only 1 gram of resistance while hammers shank flanges and wippen flanges need 3-4 grams. Repetition levers should be 3-4 grams as well but are difficult to measure because the repetition spring gets in the way. Repinning a loose repetition lever bushing is also no fun but when the repetition lever has too little friction, regulating the repetition spring becomes tricky and the action becomes prone to double striking.
Conversely, there are areas where friction needs to be minimized as much as possible. These include the capstans, the knuckles and repetition lever and jack tops, the key pins, the glides, and the shift spring. Judicious lubrication with the appropriate type of lubrication is the remedy for those areas.
Getting back to my story, the capstans were the culprit of adding unnecessary friction that would've caused a sluggish feel and diminished repetition. Remedying tarnished capstans is easy. Grap your bottle of Noxon (or Flitz polish) and a Qtip. After removing the action stack and the key up-stop rail, apply the Noxon with the Qtip to groups of 10 capstans at a time. Once you've covered a group with a good layer go back and buff them with a rag. Make sure not to get any polish in the capstan holes. The polish will eventually eat away at the brass.
Once you've gone through all of the capstans they'll be shiny like new. Make sure you show you're client. They love it when you can show them the difference before and after the polishing.
Something causing friction with your pianos? Tell us about it in the comments.
