I inherited a 5-1 Chickering baby grand that my mother bought new in 1937. I learned to play on it as a child/adolescent. I then had a35 year hiatus before starting to play again last year, at which time the action was largely rebuilt with new hammers, shanks and flanges, as well as all the wound strings. This was a big improvement but I still had trouble with controlling the dynamics, especially the softer end; if I played softly sometimes I would get no sound at all, and if I played a little harder the sound was too loud. One problem is the touchweight which I measured at more than 70 grams. I also noted the the hammer knuckle rested too far forward of the jack. My understanding is that the back edge of the wooden core should align with the back edge of the knuckle, per the widely accepted guide on restoration and tuning that I have whose author's name escapes me. Ideally I should have the technician who did the rebuilding fix this but he's very unreliable. I had another technician regulate it recently who was a very likable Russian who spoke about 3 words of English and who indicated that the book was wrong. He also indicated that the touch weight could not be changed, that Rachmaninoff liked a heavy touchweight etc. One thing I noticed is that if one were to adjust the jack screw so that the jack was positioned as stated above, then the letoff screw would bottom out before reaching the appropriate position to trip the jack when the hammer was within 1/16 inch from the strings. I would like to determine if these problems (regulation for better dynamic control and touch weight) can be rectified at a reasonable cost before committing to buying a new piano, which I'm willing to do if necessary to be able to play a decent instrument, as it is currently very frustrating.

It sounds like you need to keep looking for a technician.

The back edge of the jack should align with the back edge of the wooden knuckle core. Back meaning away from the player. Touchweight can be changed. There are discussions here about it on a regular basis. Just do some digging.

Roy is right. Find a technicain who comes highly recommended.

If the touchweight is that high, it could be a friction problem, a action parts geometry problem (wrong hammer shank dimensions re. center pin and knuckle), a hammer weight problem, or a combination of any of these. Sounds like the re-build was not really brought to completion regarding final regulation and touchweight adjustment.

By the way, the let-off is independent of the jack placement. If the let-of works now, you can change the jack setting and the let-off will remain the same.

As you've found, the various adjustments are interrelated. Regulation must be performed in a precise order.

You can find a technician here:
http://www.ptg.org

--Cy--

It is entirely possible that the action work was done badly enough that it needs to be done over.

Bitchen. Interesting that Supply and Cy give opposing opinions regarding the relationship between jack setting and letoff! My observation is that as you adjust the jack screw the jack foot moves up and down relative to the letoff screw. Anyway I have a new technician that was referred by my teacher who she raves about. Congratulations Cy.

Greg

let off doesn't generally change after being set. The slight change of the jack/knuckle position doesn't change letoff from what I've seen.

Sounds like when the new hammers, shanks, and flanges were hung the wrong parts were used throwing off the knuckel placement dimension.