List I was asked to regulate a Steinway B. What I found has me stuck. Two things. When the hammers drop after releasing the keys they hit the top of the back checks. Hammers are bored to factory specs. Checking is very good. No amount of repositioning the back checks seemed to solve the problem without compromising their function. The sesult is a slight "bump" feeling in the key- like you get when the under lever stop rail is set too high and the dampers bounce. The other problem is the jack. With the dip at .375, blow at 1 5/8", the back of the jack is being pressed into the cushion in the back of the balancier window. It is literally captured between that cushion and the let off button. Increasing either the dip or blow distance makes the problem worse. At these settings the action functions and feels good to me. I've done a lot of regulating in 22 years and I'm still learning, but I can't make sense out of these problems. I've seen the hammer problem on a Steinway D once and the jack problem on a Kawai GS 60. What have I missed? The college is trying the piano today and I'm calling them next week for a report. There is evidence of other techs attempts to deal with this piano and the current tech is smart enough to know its over his head. He's grateful to find some one to pursue the problems- for there are many Steinways on the campus and in town that have no one to service beyond tuning and some regulating. Am I standing too close to the trees to see the forest? Paul Chick RPT
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