Do 1/2 wood hammers add key weight?

[AA]

I'm working on a 1973 stage 73, when I first got it I remeber thinking how they could have sold a product with such a sloppy action, but after doing most of the stuff I had planed (basic vv refurb kit, bridle straps, new damper arms, minor setup including dropping harp support height) I've started to really like the action, it definitely has a bit more slop than my wood key mk2, but the added weight is nice especially when playing slower stuff, I've been going back and forth between Rhodes keyboards and I can't decide if I should be installing a bump mod, I've done one before on a 1977, but this Rhodes feels better To me without than that one did both before and after. I guess my main question is if the extra weight I feel is from the lack of a bump, or if the wood hammers add a bit of weight. I also have a 1974 88 I'm working on that feels sluggish and bad even with the harp height dropped so I don't think this is me liking sluggish keys, I normally play my mk2 and have loved the action. I'm not actually sure why the 1973 plays so good in comparison to the 1974, the pedestal felts on the 73 look worn with some black stuff on them where as the 1974 looks pretty much new. Maybe the new straps/ damper arms help? I know this is a bit of a convoluted question but I've been putting off doing the mod on the 1973 for about a week now because I don't know if I'll regret it.
If you have both plastic hammer and 1/2 wood hammer Rhodes both with pedestal bumps I'd like to hear your input on any differences in feel.
If you have an unbumped Rhodes I'd like to hear what you like about it/ what you did to get it playing well.
I might just go ahead with the mod and try to get my 1974 playing as well as this one without the bump mod, not sure, I have to decide in the next few days to stay on schedule. I have a silver sparkle lid from vv that's supposed to arrive Tuesday after 8 weeks of waiting, and my dads currently helping me re tolex the body, I'm trying to make the perfect Rhodes for me and ideally everything will be ready when the lid gets here so I can move it into the room with my other electric pianos for final voicing.
Is there only improvement to be had from a bump mod, or dose anyone prefer the feel without?

[pianotuner steveo]

Properly done bump mods usually improve the touch a lot.

[AA]

I generally agree, I think I had a bit of a bias since I wanted to finish the restoration early, I've started bumps, will report back what I think about the weight vs my mark 2 after I'm done.
Note to anyone reading: clean or replace your back rail felt before levelling keys. I forgot to and had to redo the levelling due to large amounts of dust on the back rail felt raising the keys, replacing the back rail felt did improve hammer levelling once the keys were level. Regardless wasn't fun to level the same key bed twice.

[pianotuner steveo]

The first step I do when refurbishing any piano is to remove the keys (making sure they are numbered first), then vacuum the whole keybed. Be very careful not to vacuum up any key felts or punchings, but always vacuum the back rail cloth.

[AA]

After what feels like forever I've gotten the bump mod done and reassembled the piano, part of the time spent was deep cleaning the key caps, I had done the tops and fronts but forgot the side and inside of the caps as these are the hollow keys, another obstacle was using pvc-e glue, the end result is great and I've used it for all the new felt other than damper felts on this Rhodes with good results, but it takes some extra time holding it down against the bump to get it to stick and hold the shape of the bump properly.
Anyways, to answer my original questions, something on this piano is adding a bit of weight, and not in a sluggish way, the action feels great, better and faster than my wood key mark 2.
Im guessing there are a couple factors, I have new damper arms for vintage vibe and all new bridle straps, this probably improves consistency and key return speed, vv advertised these arms as improving action feel and even before the bump mod I gotta agree with them, maybe not the most price:improvement thing you could do, but they saved me the extra time of carefully removing bridle straps and felts from the dampers, and considering I was doing pretty much everything else and spending a decent chunk of change on a custom harp cover, I thought I'd do them and I'm happy I did. Next the wood hammers may have some small added weight, which is exaggerated by the leverage in the hammer/key relationship, it definitely dose feel like I have more weight to throw at the tines but that could mainly be the next point: the hammer throw is a bit less than without bumps, but a bit more than the factory wood bump action of my mark 2. Vintage vibe also seemed to make their newest bumps smaller, which I used this time, so that could add to the improved hammer throw vs mark 2 action.
Lastly, I've learned I'm not a fan of graduated hammer tips, my mark 2 has those, this piano has the "angled" tips from vintage vibe, that are angled like the graduated ones, but all the same height, I've been able to set my escapement really low without problems, and the action has surprisingly great dynamic range, I thought the mark 2 was good but this is much better.
I'm not sure why I didn't like the last one I did bumps on (plastic hammers) but that piano had graduated tips, was in overall worse condition, escapement locked in higher than I like due to aluminum harp supports that may have been mad a bit too tall, and I believe the bumps vv offers were designed mainly for the profile of the 1/2 wood hammers.
So if anyone is in the same boat I was, with an action that feels good already on a pre 75 Rhodes, just do the bump mod properly and I think you'll keep what you liked about it already while adding more to like about it.
I still have some more work to do, but so far this is going pretty good, already allot more fun to play than my other Rhodes