Bernt Damm wrote:

> Some other point to note here is that the energy transmitted from
> the hammer to the string is constant, flex or no flex of shank,
> because the moving mass does not change.  I therefore say that it
> will not influence the volume of sound at all if the shank bends
> a little or not.

Treble hammer shanks on grands are thinned to allow this flexing to
produce better tone.  If your shanks are not flexing, you are not
getting the best tone possible.

If you have the ambition, you can search the Pianotech archives for
'hammer acceleration' or 'shank flexing' and see what surfaces.

    http://www.webcom.com/wind/ptsearch.html

    Pianotech Mailing List Full-Text Searcher

Jon Page
Harwich Port, Cape Cod, Mass. (jpage@capecod.net)