Despite a few good days of working in the shop, progress has all but ground to a halt. I had a minor triumph with the following video: actual noise from an actual bell when you press an actual key!
Sadly, the excitement was short-lived. All that wobbly misguidedness just wouldn’t do, so it was back to the drawing board. I spent this morning trying to figure out how to add more stability without throwing the basic alignment out of whack, but couldn’t come up with anything that works. This afternoon I spent many minutes downstairs at the piano, flicking the hammers and wondering at the perfect alignment they achieve. Effortless motion… no wobble at all.
I feel like I’m heading back to the drawing board. Wiser, yes, but still: drawing board. I’m very much looking forward to the day(s) when I can finally (confidently) lock in a design and start cranking out 40 identical pieces of piano over and over and over and over again.