Steinway parts

[John Minor]

On Tue, 21 Feb 1995, Thomas Winter wrote:

> Greetings,
>
> I recently purchased a set of shanks & flanges and wippens from
> Steinway.  All of the pinning on these parts is very loose, one to two
> grams.  Steinway says this is normal for their high-tech bushing cloth
> and that some centers can have a near zero gram reading and still
> funcion perfectly well. But  I have always suspected loose center,
> particularly in the hammer shank and the repetion lever, of
> contributing to poor repetition.  My thinking was that the low
> friction would cause you to regulate the repetition spring weaker
> than you ordinarily would.  Has anyone else had experience with
> these parts or any thoughts on this subject?

I believe this to be the case, also. Another unusual problem with
loose hammer flange pinning is voicing! I have heard a demonstration
at a seminar(I believe it was even shown with a frequency counter showing
strength of overtones)...and the results are fascinating.


John Minor
University of Illinois
jminor@uiuc.edu