02/26/2025
This is the most recent restoration project completed in my shop. No new parts, but interesting for other reasons. The piano is an Estonia about 30 years old and I completely redesigned the balance weight. It had whippen assist springs that were so heavy the factory also put 2 large leads in the back half of the key to balance hammers that were already off-the-chart heavy. I removed between 1 and 2 grams off each hammer lowering strike weight to the low medium range, removed all the assist springs, repinned everything, and rebalanced with nominal leads in my traditional manner. The end result is a completely different instrument. Factory parts are Renner with Able hammers. I would have preferred new Ronsen hammers, but that wasn’t in the budget and it worked out fine. I also service a brand new Estonia and noticed the factory has since stopped using those assist springs, which I believe is noteworthy.
