Flexy S&S D Keys

[Tom Servinsky]

....huh, to begin with, a very limiting ability to get a true forte. There 
is an obvious threshold that one experiences which equates from the key 
flexing too prematurely with very little stress. We are not talking about 
the hammer's ability to create forte, nor regulation factors. But the key 
itself is much too soft in construction.  The Steinway's from the late 60's 
through the 70's were riddled with this problems and it's very frustrating 
to work with. I have 3 D's currently at various venues which have all been 
rebuilt, but short of having the keys replaced or reinforced. And they all 
have the same systems. After experimenting with swapping out a few keys from 
another ( more newer ) D, the difference in the key made a huge difference.
Tom Servinsky
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Richard Brekne" <ricb at pianostemmer.no>
To: <pianotech at ptg.org>
Sent: Friday, May 02, 2008 5:30 AM
Subject: Flexy S&S D Keys


> Hi Del and Terry,
>
> Terry, how did you ascertain that there was <<too much>> flex in the keys 
> ?  Del,  what is wrong with calling a spade a spade ?  Honestly folks... 
> any <<improvement>> in an actions performance is wholly a result of the 
> users reaction to the change.  There is no inherent improvment.... only a 
> change in configuration.
>
> Thing is that for every person that would equate this change with an 
> <<improvement>> there are probably at least that many if not 10 times as 
> many who would not. You make the action stiffer when you make it 
> stiffer... goes without saying...  if thats a good thing for the pianist 
> in question fine... if its not...what ...are we going to get all down on 
> the guy and snub our noses at him ?
>
> Why not just call a change a change and leave it at that .... along with 
> making it clear to the customer what the change will do... pros and cons. 
> Because there is always pros and cons.
>
> I'd like to know what the criteria for judging these particular keys to 
> have to much flex are ?  Terry ?
>
> Cheers
> RicB
>
>
>    Have him or her go back to the August and December 1996 Journals and
>    read the
>    two articles I wrote about energy losses in piano actions. In one of
>    those
>    articles I described how to improve (I realize the idea of
>    "improving" anything
>    to do with the piano is subjective so perhaps I should just say
>    "change") these
>    keys.
>     Basically I removed the so-called Accelerated Action "rockers" and
>    replaced them
>    with normal thin felt punchings. I then used the space gained to
>    accommodate
>    maple plates of equal thickness (4 mm comes to mind but you should
>    check) glued
>    to the bottom of the keys. Did wonders to "change" the performance
>    of the action
>    and the piano.
>     Del
>
>
>