Dear Michelle, Jacob Doll made a lot of pianos over the years so there are likely some working models out there for comparison. You may well have "growing" action brackets. Some brackets were made from "pot metal" which tends to grow with time causing all kinds of problems. What is critical is the distance from the wippen center pin to the hammer center pin. Check the rocker cushion for wear marks and see if they align with current position and check the drop screw cushion for the same. Check the "magic line" alignment, on a line between the key balance point to the wippen center pin the capstan/wippen contact point should touch it when the key is half depressed. Moving anything before understand the full geometry of the action is not a good idea because the circles of rotation of all moving parts must fulfill specific requirements (key, wippen and hammer). If anything is moved, by you or by dimensionally unstable parts will severely effect the performance of the action. If memory serves me (not so often anymore) Jacob Doll made some nice pianos and attending to this one's specific problems should produce a nice piano for you. Also check the jack to knuckle alignment. Using a conventional shank and knuckle you can align the knuckles together and determine the flange center pin to knuckle insert distance so you can replace the set with the proper dimensioned knuckles but also look at the wear marks on the "knuckle" to try to determine if there are several lines of wear along it's bottom side. If needful there are a wide range of knuckle placement shank sets available now so yo can mix and match until you get the one set that works best for that piano. Keep us informed about problems and successes. Newton
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