Steinway parts

[N&B Brickman]

        I always buy my Steinway parts from Steinway in New York, but
specify Hamburg parts whenever available in their parts list, such as for
shanks with flanges, hammers, and wippens.  They cost more but the quality
has been excellent -- including no problems with loose pinnings.
                Norman Brickman
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>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?
>
>Thomas Winter
>San Francisco State University
>
>
>
nbb@us.net