S&S D with high strings/low action stack

[David Ilvedson]

But haven't these hammers been filed quite a bit?   How would one estimate where they were originally, as far as over-striking?   

David Ilvedson, RPT
Pacifica, CA  94044


----- Original message ----------------------------------------
From: "Ric Brekne" <ricbrek at broadpark.no>
To: "Andrew and Rebeca Anderson" <anrebe at sbcglobal.net>, pianotech <pianotech at ptg.org>
Received: 10/16/2006 12:06:33 PM
Subject: Re: S&S D with high strings/low action stack


>Hi again

>Well it looks like our (actually you had it all along) origional call on 
>this was the right one. Nice one.

>As far as solutions go... Its all well and fine that Steinway sends you 
>some shims to raise the action... this will get you a ways down the road 
>to be sure.  But it sounds like the guy from the service department out 
>and out admits a production fault concerning the plate height to begin 
>with.  Ok... he gives 7&7/8's as a max and you say you are perhaps at 
>8... but.... hey....  That coupled with the symptoms you give clearly 
>show the piano left the factory with a problem that should have been 
>corrected.... at least it looks pretty clear from hear :)  Couple in 
>also that he is recommending a new set of hammers with a custom 
>bore..... wellllllll..

>If the piano is under warranty then I think you have a good case...

>I dont know how hard you want to press this given your situation there.  
>Perhaps it might be easier to just shim and put on a new set of hammers 
>in the end.  Whose paying for all the effort and parts then ??  You say 
>he reccommends <<buying>> a set of hammers ??... on a warranty piano ??

>Something sounds a bit off the proverbial wall here.

>In any case... I'd shim the stack whatever you need / can get,  hang a 
>new set of hammers, leave the keyframe as is... and send S&S the bill :)

>Cheers
>RicB

>Andrew and Rebeca Anderson wrote:
>> 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
>>
>>
>>
>>