heavy Steinway action

[David Love]

The variation on Steinways stems from the failure to index the plate into
the piano in the same position each time.  Thus the strikepoint varies and
the stack gets located differently from piano to piano which causes the
capstan location to be different.  Measure the key ratio on a group of
Steinways and you will find it ranges from .49 - .58.  That will make a
huge difference in the touchweight dynamics.  

As far as making changes on new pianos, I have done this not infrequently. 
It does seem that paying that much you should expect to have things right,
but the reality is, if you have to choose between a good belly and proper
touch dynamics, you should choose the good belly and accept the changes
that will be made to the action.  Modifying the touchweight does not need
to be a major price in the scheme of the cost of the piano.  Move the
capstan, smooth the strike weights and reweigh the action will accomplish a
lot.  It's not a throwaway job, but not prohibitive in the scheme of 40K -
90K.  

It is often very difficult for a pianist who sits down to 10 or 20 pianos
to really tell by feel how that action is going to feel day after day. 
There are many things which can skew their perceptions.  A technician
should be able to tell be looking at the leading pattern, measuring some
sample notes for balance weight whether there is a serious problem or not. 
My advice when buying a piano.  Take a technician who can make that
assessment, among others.  For technicians, learn how to make the
assessment.  

David Love
davidlovepianos@earthlink.net


----- Original Message ----- 
From: Dave Nereson 
To: pianotech@ptg.org
Sent: 6/3/2003 12:21:10 AM 
Subject: heavy Steinway action


    Does anyone call Steinway about these heavy actions?  What do they say?
Or do they deny any accusations of having built anything "wrong"?  Or is it
not "wrong", but just heavy to certain players? 
    Has Steinway changed capstan alignment or angle or knuckle size
recently?   
    If this were a new company just starting up, I could see how there
might be action problems to iron out, but if a certain size action is
basically the same as the one in front of or behind it on the assembly
line, how can there be that much variance? 
    --David Nereson, RPT