NEW Steinway plate location holes

[Steinway & Sons]

Hello list,

I don't think we've ever answered a thread this quickly before, but I
happened to be reading e-mail during lunch today.

Plate fit takes place immediately after coating of the case.  The plate
flange is mated to the pinblock and the guide holes are made when the
process is finished.  The holes are initially drilled into the braces.  The
piano then moves to soundboard fraizing, where the board is cut to the exact
shape of the rim.  The board is held above the piano during this operation
and lined up using the guide holes.  However, it is very difficult in
production to line everything up perfectly. To accommodate, the actual
bridge pattern is set directly off of a measurement from the V-bar during
the bellying.

I hope this clears things up.  Lance, next time you are in New York stop in
for a tour and we will show you how it all comes together.

Yours,

Stephen Dove
STEINWAY & SONS
New York

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-pianotech@ptg.org [mailto:owner-pianotech@ptg.org]On Behalf
Of A440A@AOL.COM
Sent: Thursday, July 08, 1999 10:19 AM
To: pianotech@ptg.org
Subject: Re: NEW Steinway plate location holes


Lance asks:
> SO, my
>>question is, when are the holes drilled?  Why? Do they use it to install
>>the plate at the factory?  Is it used for after pulling the plate for
>>restoration later?  Is it just for rough location or precise?

Greetings,
    It was my understanding that the holes indexed the plate and
soundboard(with bridges attached) together.  The fitting of the plate to
installed pinblock occurs after the board is installed in the piano case,
and
the descrepancy in the holes lining up represents how much wood was removed
from the pinblock in order to fit it.
     I would imagine that the initial indexing of the plate/board is
"lengthened somewhat to accomodate this movement.  The width of the bridge
places some limitations on fore and aft tolerances, and the action has a few
demands on where that capo bar ends up.
   It is amazing that they get these things put together at all!!
Regards,
Ed Foote