Vintage Vibe hammer tips: which way?

[GetWithTheTines]

Hi everyone.

I was just installing the hammer tips from VV and was wondering which way they should face - particularly, the red ones for the bass section.

In the youtube video on this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUNQZuBX8Sk), Chris explains that the "crown" should face up and it should slope down away from the front of the piano. I believe that means that the "crown" is the side with the smallest surface and should always be at the top. However, the red tips are narrower than the others, so they don't cover the entire platform of the hammer when placed with the smallest surface at the top. If I place them so that they cover the entire platform, they don't come up as high as the others and the surface of the hammer tip that comes into contact with the tine is much larger. Perhaps that's by design, since I read that the escapement should be larger in the bass end.

My questions are:
1. Should the side of the hammer tips with the smallest surface always be at the top?
2. Should the red tips be installed so that they cover the entire platform of the hammer?

Hope that makes sense.

Thanks.

[bumpyrhode]

Isn't the side with the color supposed to face the dampers?

[pianotuner steveo]

The way Chris shows is correct. The highest point is toward you.

[GetWithTheTines]

BumpyRhode: The VV tips don't have colors. They are just named as such, presumably to match how they were painted when they were originally produced, or at least as a better way to distinguish them from one another and help to determine where to install them.

Steveo: I know that when placed on the hammer, the highest point is toward you (meaning it slopes down away from you), but the tips are shaped in a way that you can place it in a few different ways and still have it slope down away from you. Should the smallest surface of the tip always be at the top? If so, the red tips are shaped in a way that leaves some of the platform of the hammer bare. Maybe that's ok, but it doesn't look right to me for some reason. I guess I was expecting the tip to cover the entire platform of the hammer like it does on the others. Thanks.

[swenz]

I know what you're talking about with the red tips.  There are two ways to potentially place them that will result in having a high point closest to you and sloping away.  One way results in the hammer tips being higher and not completely filling the platform on the hammer.  I believe the other way is the correct way, with the tip sitting lower but seated on the hammer so that none of the platform is bare.  I'm pretty sure that the hammer tips get shorter on the bass end in order to account for the larger escapement that is needed.

[bumpyrhode]

GWTT - Good to know. Now I won't be confused when I go to do mine.