acoustic piano key bushing--light vs heavy feel to touch

[sohiarain]

Hi,

I own a regular, not electic piano, and so my question would apply to an "acoustic" situation.  My piano technician "loosened" the key bushing felt on many keys, and they feel not as tight.  The keys are not visibly loose or anything, but slightly loose to my touch.  

1. Do key bushings get tighter as the piano ages, or do they get looser?  

2. Can my problem be fixed by replacing the felt or should I have it fixed by dampening?  This is a brand new grand piano.

3. I want a very heavy, chewy, "gummy" resistence when I depress on the keys.  Can this be achieved by addressing the key bushing issue, or do I just need to replace my piano with another piano with a heavier feeling action?

Help!  Thanks, Sophia


:roll:

[piano ma'am]

Hey there Sophia--

I am VERY new to this board- this is my 1st post!- but I can help you out, being a piano technician.

OK-

Your piano technican loosened your keys by "easing" them..

Basically the keys were squeezed with a tool to compress the wood that felt is glued onto and this felt is called a "bushing".

Since it's a new piano- the bushings are new also, and were fit very close to the pin that they straddle under the front of your key (front bushing and pin) and also in the middle (balance bushing and pin)..
When fit correctly there is just a SLIGHT movement side to side when the key is depressed fully and moved left to right at the front- and next to NO movement at the balance. We're talking *thousandths* of an inch here...

Since these are fit well- they are VERY prone coming too close to the pin when any source of humidity enters the equasion. This would make you action feel more heavy if it was bad enough.

It's not uncommon for new pianos to become a little sluggish due to being new/everything fitting as close to an inch of it's life or having new bushings replaced on an old keyboard.
This especially  happens alot on the ends of the keyboard where it's not played much. (Check for yourself on ANY piano!)

*Bushings get loose with use*- and I would not resort to using humidity to re-tighten your keys back- that will happen naturally with the changes in weather- unless you are REALLY good in keeping the humidity constant but that'll all be in battle with you playing it and making them loose again.




Unless this technician REALLY squeezed REALLY hard- for you only need a titch of "force" to compress the wood when easing the keys- your piano shouldn't feel *as different* as you are describing it.
Humidity (steam) is added only when drastic measures need to be taken and even then- it's  just best in most cases to start over with new.

There are *many* reasons why a piano would feel on the light or heavy side.
All the action parts add to what you are feeling- not just the keys.

I think a re-visit from your technician may be in order here since you are thinking of maybe switching instruments


Hope this helps some.

[sohiarain]

Thank you for your reply!  It helped very much, you are very good at explaining things!  

Since it is a new piano, I think I will just wait it out and see what happens.  I happen to like the sluggishness so I am hoping it rains a lot or something.  Do you think replacing the bushing felt with new ones will solve my problem?

The technician came back and he did some work on the spring and weight(?).  He made the keys as heavy as he could, though to me I couldn't really tell.  The keys rather go up and down easily, like butter! this time, probably because the spring is very tight now.  Will this change over time too?

Thanks!!
Sophia

[piano ma'am]

Hi Sophia-

I wouldn't touch your key bushings any more.

Unless this person C*R*A*N*K*E*D on them (and then used that ghadawful old "keybushing tightener tool" for  Fender Rhodes keys because they cranked them too much- hehe!!) I would just let them be.

In fact the technician (hopefully) eased them because they were binding and making the action too resistant or when the piano got to your home and "aclimated" to your homes environment, they started to bind up a little and notes were unplayable or very close to it.

There would be no other reason to mess with them- for as I mentioned- they *will* "loosen" up with time and use.

The feeling you desire in the touch of your piano action is called "heavy" instead of sluggish.

"Heavy actions" and "light actions" are the terms we use when comparing and discussing between ourselves and the customer. Sluggishness refers to things getting gummed up or mis-regulated- and it's usually not good news in general.

You like lots of resistance when you play and that's great- you know what you want and it's a good start. You like a "heavy action".

If the tech. came back and did some action work he/she possibly worked on/checked  the "upweight" and "downweight" of the keys??

The key pivots as it moves and if you think of a key like a teeter-totter...adding weight on either side of the teeter-totter effects how quickly one end rises after the other has gone down.

Maybe these things were adjusted?
The key leads and some other action work?
That's all pretty intensive so maybe this was not done??

Also the spirngs you mentioned... most of the regulation work was done in the factory and adjusting springs for desireable touch isn't something messed with- because their function isn't for that.
These will need to be adjusted at some point- but only because of the other action parts in relation to them are coming out of regulation.

Being that the action is comprised of wood parts, felt and leather/buckskin- ALL of these being porous.. they WILL change over time and need to be adjusted, especially with a new piano or some one who plays ALOT. That's called regulation.

Let your piano "hang out" for a bit.

Keep in touch with your freindly neighborhood technician and keep a good eye on what's going on with your instrument, you and the environment.

With pianos, dealers in most cases try to keep all involved happy- but pianos are tempermental things... and expensive.