Bob, Didn't my message from the 11th go through? This action looks surprisingly like the action in my 1931 Haines Brothers baby grand. I sent pictures of the Haines Brothers action to this list in October. After studying your pictures some more, I'll modify my original message to say that I'm not sure if the function is exactly the same because I can't tell where the rear end of the springs go. The forward ends are attached to the hammer flanges; where are the other ends attached, the hammer butts or the jacks? On the Haines Brothers action the springs are repetition springs and serve to keep the hammers raised after an initial key stroke and to allow the jacks to sneak back under the hammer butts for repeated key strokes. They are attached on one end to the front side of the jacks and at the other end they ride in a slot on the underside of the hammer butts. Here are the instructions printed on the hammer butt rail of the 1931 Haines Brothers baby grand action for adjusting the repetition springs. Perhaps they'll be useful to you: "NOTE--IMPORTANT--Repetition springs are so designed and set as to require a minimum of adjustment. They shold not be touched UNLESS action fails to repeat properly. Necessary adjustments should be made by SLIGHTLY bending spring inward to strengthen, outward to weaken. This is done with a tool made to fit between the coil and jack. When the key is struck firmly, then slowly released, the hammer should raise slightly. It will do this when the spring is set in proper position." (I've included the entire text here for completeness, obviously you can ignore the warnings! 78^) ) Disclaimer--I'm a rank amateur at this, so if I've described something incorrectly, please, someone, jump in and correct me! Best Regards, Greg DesBrisay On Thu, 2004-01-15 at 11:14, BobDavis88@aol.com wrote: > Didn't get any bites on the pictures - I have seen earlier Steinway actions > that looked more modern than this one (1873, 7' grand). In fact, we have an > 1864 that looks pretty standard Erard-type. We work on a lot of Steinways, but > haven't run into this one. Factory had no notes in the records. I thought > someone out there might know what's the deal. Anybody?
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