S&S D with high strings/low action stack

[David Love]

Before you make Steinway's problem your problem, take it to a higher level.
A service department tech is not necessarily in the position to give you the
final yes or no on what they should be willing to do on warranty.  All
"fixes" at this point are compromises.  You shouldn't have to do that on a
new D, in my opinion.  I don't recall exactly but doesn't this piano belong
to an institution?  Which dealer did they buy it from?  The institutional
department head involved in the purchase as well as the dealer should also
be in the loop.  You shouldn't allow yourself to be bullied into accepting
anything less than a proper fix or replacement and the burden should not
rest entirely on your shoulders.  BTW, keep a record of all correspondence.


David Love
davidlovepianos at comcast.net 
www.davidlovepianos.com

-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Andrew and Rebeca Anderson
Sent: Monday, October 16, 2006 11:13 AM
To: Pianotech List
Subject: Re: S&S D with high strings/low action stack

Continuing saga:
I spoke with a Steinway technician in the service department this 
morning (name slips me) and have the following solution(s) recommended,
	He is sending 1/16" walnut shims cut to fit under the action feet 
and raise the action by that much, I'll have to re-time the checking 
& 		reset let-off
	he recommends buying the un-bored Steinway hammers and custom boring

them to take up some of the over-striking difference
		(my measurements on the existing hammers suggest that they
have 
been over-filed already by 1/8 -3/16" so my high grit 		polishing 
isn't the first time this has been done.)
We discussed string height and he gave one specification: note 66 is 
to be 7&3/4" +/- 1/8" above the key-bed.  I pointed out that my 
measurements put this area very close to 8".  He became a little 
defensive and said that fixing this would require rebuilding the 
piano and that Steinway wasn't going to do this (I had mentioned the 
piano was still under warranty).  I then asked him about Steinway 
policy regarding over-striking.  He plainly said that the hammers 
shouldn't overstrike.  Of-course they all do now by significantly 
more than the amount they have been filed under standard bore and 
most likely were by a significant amount when the piano was new.
I mentioned checking and capsizing problems with too short hammer 
tails too far above the action and he didn't have much to add other 
than that shimming the action by 1/16 should help with the 
capsizing.  He couldn't get me stats on the size of the un-bored 
hammers.  I'm guessing they are the same size as the bored ones and 
I'm not too enthusiastic about boring those much lower on the 
tail.  Custom hammers by another hammer maker may be the better way 
to go, but than there is the Steinway Only politics to deal with...

So, my solution is drifting towards this:
	Shim the key-frame 1/16"
	Shim the action stack 1/16"
	Recommend new hammers (really this should be a warranty item too, 
there is significant labor in this)
This gets me a third of the way with adequate clearance at the 
fall-board and 1/16" clearance at the pinblock with the drop screws 
backed all the way out.  Taller hammers will drag going in and out 
and I'll have to watch that (had a mishap on a Chinese-made piano 
yesterday).  By shimming both I reduce the problem to the 
neighborhood of  1/16" so a lower bore won't be so worrisome.

Do any of you have more to add?

Andrew Anderson, Artisan Piano