Steinway parts

[Ron Torrella]

On Tue, 21 Feb 1995, Thomas Winter wrote:

> 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, too, have noticed rather loose centers coming from parts suppliers --
well, I rarely buy anywhere but Renner USA, GMBH and Steinway -- and have
made it a practice of simply repinning all of those parts anyhow.  (I have
the luxury of an apprentice whose wages are quite reasonable.) For years
(before John got here...), we made the mistake of pinning on the tight
side which presents another set of problems.  The few times I didn't
bother to repin, though, I've noticed that the centers that were "lubed"
(graphite?) eventually came into line with what one would expect in the
way of grams-resistance!  Mind you, these are pianos that get *lots* of
daily use.

While we're on the the topic of centerpins....has anyone come up with an
explanation for why some centers tend to freeze up (I believe the
offending pins were identified as being the German silver variety)?  A
scientist here in Champaign had an explanation that seemed reasonable.
I'm trying to locate him for a quote...  Anyone care to take a stab at it?

Ron Torrella                  Self-explanatory - [A]bort [C]ancel [R]etry
University of Illinois              Inexplicable   -   + + +