Clyde Hollinger wrote: > Friends: > > Once again I came across a piano action I am unfamiliar with. The piano > I saw for the first time yesterday (Knight spinet serial 11597 made in > 1952) appears to be in nice condition but was seriously out of tune due > to neglect and loose tuning pins. <mega-snip> > Question 2 to anyone who is familiar with this particular piano - What > is the purpose of the stationary capstan dowels underneath the wippens? <Another mega-snip> > Clyde Hollinger > Lititz, PA It is interesting you should mention this because I have a new customer I'm seeing soon who has a Knight piano. Wipeeee!!! I have only seen a few of these, one of which was one of the most peculiar designs I have seen. You mentioned the dowels above so I am wondering if it might be along the same lines. The piano I worked on, (a dealer trade-in), had a long slot cut through the keybed. Through the slot was a rail attached with brackets that had inverted dowel-type capstans. The dowels took the place of the backrail. You were supposed to adjust each key individually, (key height/leveling), by turning the capstans. There were no paper punchings under the keys, all key adjustments were to be done by turning these back-rail capstans. I would rate the piano as fair at best. While this method of adjustment made key leveling a breeze, it did nothing for key dip since you were adding or taking away key travel. Since you are trading key leveling for the dip, uniformity was pretty much impossible. Anyway, just on of those wierd designs that (fortunately) didn't catch on. I'm curious about this one I'll be seeing soon. Rob Goodale, RPT
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