S&S D with high strings/low action stack

[John Delacour]

At 2:25 pm -0400 9/10/06, Jon Page wrote:

>Here's a few items to consider while getting the action "Returned 
>for Regrooving".
>
>Hammer flange center to bottom of string:
>S-B         C-D
>4.6 cm    4.9 cm
>
>Whippen flange center from strings:
>11 cm      11.3 cm

I've no experience of American 4 year-old Steinways but every 
Steinway grand I've ever measured, and most other makes too, have an 
arched strike line with a difference of several millimetres between 
the string height at note 21 (lowest on long bridge) and that at note 
88.  That difference, and also the difference in string angle to the 
horizontal ought to be taken into account when boring the hammers, 
since the rails should surely be straight and not arched.  If the 
hammers are wrongly bored on this Friday grand, as seems very likely 
to me, then the proper solution is to throw them out and fit a set 
that is properly bored to the actual dimensions of the piano.

JD