Would anyone care to comment on adjusting the weights in keys. Can that easily be done by a very piano handy individual? I found only this thread in the archives.

http://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?/topic/3/66.html

No.

Yes, it's possible, but you would have to be a mechanically savvy person. There can be many causes for the heavy action, and you would need to be able to diagnose the problem by checking for friction in various spots, checking for worn action parts, such as knuckles, measuring action ratios, and seeing how the action was regulated. You will need to measure down weight and up weight. You will have to check the front weight of the keys as well. Don't forget to look for friction in the damper rail and how the dampers are regulated while you're at it.

After doing all of this, you will have all the info you need to understand the cause of the heaviness. Once you determine the cause, you will need to know what to do to fix it, know which parts may need changing, and be able to replace those parts.

Also don't forget that you'll need a large work bench, maybe two, in a well lighted work shop. Also, unless you're extrememely lucky and don't have to work for a living, this whole process is going to take you a while.

It's a tall order for the average person, but you may not be the average person. If you decide to proceed, remember part of the Hippocratic oath, "at least do no harm."

In other words, no.

Sounds more like 'maybe' to me.

The operative word is "easily"!

Before we get too far along, can I ask why? Is it to alter the touch? The best way to do that may or may not involve messing with the weight in the keys...

Can I re-enforce BDB's NO???

I would think the difficulty is in the learning curve regarding friction and regulation.

It has taken technicians many years of experience to learn the in's and out's.

Are we presuming "Guy D's" abilities inadequate?

One plausable solution may be suggesting that Guy team up with a tech, perhaps apprentice on his own piano action.

Guy has the desire. Does anyone know someone in his area that might be willing to help?

Your thoughts Guy??

The weight of keys is set in the factory and is usually what it should be. The touchweight can change if parts were changed or there is friction. It's not an easy job to rebalance an action.
No

Kpiano

What is it about "NO" that is hard to understand?

The answer isn't no, it depends on the person. Some people are very knowledgeable and have an intuitive grasp of how things work. So, maybe its no for 49 out of 50 piano owners, but that 1 out of 50 might do a great job on his piano and have tubs of fun doing it.

I think Roy is being optimistic by saying 1 in 50.

It's not the weighting of the keys as a job that is difficult to learn. It would take an hour to set some one up to do that job. It's the 100 other things you have to know first. It's the learning to regulate the action properly and deal with friction issues, then being able to analize the geometry to determine if the hammer weight is wrong or maybe knuckle or capstan placement. A lot of times too heavy of a hammer has been hung for the knuckle placement. You can move the knuckle and all the weight problems go away. Remember the saying, you can't lighten an action by adding lead.

kpiano

OK, 1 in 100.

An interesting thing about not knowing is that you don't know that you don't know, at that point it is easy

I thank you for your comments. I get frustrated with my crusty old grand in the basement on which I practice tuning just for fun. I'm not handy particularly, or at least experienced. I hate to let my tuner even know about the basement piano.

If you haven't done (or had done) everything else that should be done to a piano, particularly a grand, there's no point even considering reweighting the keys. You can't even evaluate the touch properly.