Hi, tech people. I have scheduled an appointment with my tech to get this work done, and just now thought to cross-check this with others.

Last time he was here, a few months ago, we had been talking about ways to make the action feel lighter. (This is a Mason & Hamlin CC with Steinway hammers and original whippens.) Not that the action feels bad or anything. I'm just aiming for the best feel.

New damper felts had been installed in 2001 (not by him), and he commented that the felt had become compressed over time and that he could do something to them, the effect of which would be to lighten the feel of the action. (Maybe the keystroke is lifting the damper at a point where it makes it slightly more work to play.)

The piano does get played a lot; it's what I do for a living.

Apologies, I've forgotten the details of what he told me about this. The work will take a couple of hours, costing $250.

So I guess my question is, does this sound like a regular, orthodox kind of servicing? As far as doing the job of damping, the dampers are working fine.

Thank you very much.

He can't do anything to damper felts themselves to lighten an action. He may have meant that due to compression of the felts, the dampers are lifting earlier now in the key stroke than was originally set when the dampers were regulated. He can change the damper timing, esentially regulating the dampers to lift later in the key stroke. This does'nt actually change the touch weight, but makes it feel like it is a bit lighter.

I've heard people say that touchweight isn't changed by altering damper timing. I beg to differ. I did a job not so long ago where I moved the damper lift from halfway to the string to about a third of the way to the string. My gram weights noticed a 4-5 gram difference before the jack hit the letoff button, which was shortly after damper lift began.

Then you have the momentum of the finger having travelled into the keystroke and thus gaining more speed before the underlever is touched by the key--which is where the perceived lightness comes in.

Doing a thorough damper regulation can take some time. A couple of hours isn't out of line at all.

Curry and Velopresto:

Thank you for your responses. My tech is very forthright, and I assumed he was correct, but it is always nice to have corroboration.

Velopresto, the preface to your online persona, "velo," makes me think you are into bicycles. Another bike nut like me?

Joe,

Yes, I'm a semi-reformed velomaniac. I wish I had more time to ride, but I'll take what I can get these days.

Glad to hear there are others here who share my enthusiasm not just for the piano, but for getting outdoors under one's own power on two wheels!

If you play your top two octaves which dont have dampers, that is as light as it gets