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I have a client who wants to increase the touch weight on her studio. I am looking for suggestions on pricing.

You charge by the hour!

There are different ways to do this, and a lot depends on the type of piano you are talking about. So, perhaps if you want to re-post and explain a little more about what you are considering doing, then you will get more help from the hive mind here.

- for grands, weighting the shanks with paper spring type clips is a quick and easily reversible technique.
- For uprights, using 5g motorcycle wheel weights (available from Amazon) is also quick and easy
- For a thorough, proper re-weighting of a quality grand piano, you will need to service / regulate the action completely first. Then weigh it off - so this would be a much larger project, but will give the best results.

Good luck.

Yes, charge by the hour! 👍

Another source of increasing touch weight (grand or upright) is to regulate the dampers earlier, as well as strengthening the damper springs a little in an upright.

Peter Grey Piano Doctor

Replacing the jack springs may also increase the touchweight. But before doing anything like that, take out the lost motion and do the other regulation steps.

Don,

Never seen these before. You clip them right on the hammershank s? I also saw square stick-on weights that one could put on the keys...yes?

Peter Grey Piano Doctor

Square stick-on weights for the keys, yes.
https://www.amazon.com/FIERCE-CYCLE...weights+5g&qid=1631151735&sr=8-5

Paper clips for the hammer shanks.
https://www.amazon.com/Coofficer-Bi...lips+small&qid=1631151682&sr=8-3

After the clips are on, slide them out close to the hammers then remove the handles. If the customer likes the feel and doesn't mind what it does to the tone, then you put a few drops of C/A glue on each clip to keep them from clicking or popping off.

Just out of curiosity for my own education.. what would be the "accepted way" of doing this instead of using the paper clips? From a cosmetic viewpoint, I would feel aggrieved if I had black paper clips stuck on to my piano's hammershanks!

The binder clips are primarily a diagnostic tool. It is a "quick and dirty" way of demonstrating the effects of increasing touch weight by adding weight to the "hammer" (simulating a heavier hammer). The farther towards the hammer it is placed the greater the effect.

The collateral affect is to the tone of the hammer(s). This WILL change how the piano sounds. One may, or may not like it. It is also possible to even out SOME tonal deficiencies in this manner, such as at the bass/tenor break.

If the preliminary demonstration is met with approval, then the real fix is to calibrate the strike weight throughout, adding or subtracting weight from the hammers themselves in much the same manner as we do with keys...lead.

Since this can affect the present key leading, adjustments here may then be warranted.

Peter Grey Piano Doctor

I have long used binder clips on grand and upright hammershanks as a diagnostic tool. The use of motorcycle wheel weights is a new innovation for me, but makes perfect sense.

Peter Grey Piano Doctor

what Peter says is right on the money.

Greetings,
The mini-binder clips came to the rescue in the university setting I was in. Teachers don't always inhabit the same room and piano forever, and there were times that I was asked to make the action on a teaching piano heavier for the teacher's practice. Ostensibly to prepare for concretizing, she wanted more of a workout at her own piano. The clips allowed this to be done without screwing up the careful plotting and evening of FW that I had done on that action when I rebuilt it. I even put a # 24 center-pin in the holes left by the clips' handles,(which have to be removed once the clips are on), for extra weight in the low bass. In the years it was like this, the clips never moved or made noise.

After she moved to another studio, I removed the clips and the piano returned to its normal without any drilling, plugging, or lead alterations. I didn't register much change in the sound, but the lid was down and covered with piles of music, so that wasn't a consideration.
Regards,

umm, my spell checker may be more perceptive than I thought. I assumed the more accurate description of the teacher's intention was preparing for concertizing, but in some sort of sniff, my computer viewed her actions as concretizing. Hope that isn't some contagious AI it picked up....

Lol! We saw that!


Peter Grey Piano Doctor

Incidentally, I really like the idea of small adhesive weights. If there exists one that is small enough to fit on the top of an upright catcher, this could serve both to increase touch weight slightly and aid in repetition as it would move the COG back a little to counteract the front heavy hammers.

Peter Grey Piano Doctor