Steinway "pinning" dilemma

[Horace Greeley]

Jim,

This is a problem which has existed since S&S went first to the solid 
teflon bushings (ca. 1959) and then, more profoundly, since they then went 
to "Teflon II" a few years later.

It is sad that, nearly 40 years later, they are still singing the same 
song; and dogmatically returning precisely the same, problematic 
non-solutions.  It is a fight that some of us have been carrying on for 
decades.  Ultimately, you have to do what the people who sign your check 
want to have done.  S&S will most likely not acknowledge a fault or problem 
- so, you're on your own.  I have had to repin any number of virtually new 
actions because of this problem; virtually all of them at customer expense.

If you have not had a chance, be sure that you get to one of the pinning 
classes occasionally offered by Pris and Joel Rappaport.  In the meantime, 
the advice you are getting from Jeff and others is very sound.  Their 
experience parallels my own - especially as Jeff and Ed describe so 
well.  The amount of power and control lost in this kind of pinning is so 
obvious that non-apprehension of it escapes my understanding.  As I think 
of it, I believe that loose hammer flange pinning also used to be part of 
one of Norm Neblett's classes.

 From an earlier exchange between yourself and Ed:

You - "2 other techs who are top notch by any standard and
they totally agree with me. However, two Steinway techs say their system
works. How do I justify the two seemingly opposing systems and make the
pianos work to my standards without bucking Steinway?  >>"

Ed -     " Maybe you can't.  Maybe you can hope for is to give them a 
choice.  Do
one of them the Steinway way, and then do another your way.  Let the
instruments speak for themselves.  Make a pitch for uncompromised 
excellence.  We can be
in charge of shaping our clientele, it's not necessarily the other way "

I particularly like the phrase:

"Let the instruments speak for themselves".

They will; and, as you have already experienced, people with ears can and 
do tell the difference.

Stick to your guns.  Produce the very best work of which _you_ are 
capable.  Let the rest of the problems fall to the side.

Best.

Horace



At 09:30 AM 9/29/2003 -0600, you wrote:
>Jeff,
>
>Would you mind if I let Eric read your post? It would be helpful to have
>a few "witnesses" like this so I would not be the lone man out.
>
>Thanks,
>Jim Busby
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: caut-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces@ptg.org] On Behalf Of
>Jeff Tanner
>Sent: Sunday, September 28, 2003 7:43 AM
>To: College and University Technicians
>Subject: Re: Steinway "pinning" dilemma
>
>Jim Busby wrote:
> >You can make the action work by making sure rep. spring is not too
> >strong and by periodically roughing the tails, but conventional wisdom
> >says we need proper friction in the right places to make an action feel
> >and work correctly. Right?? Any thoughts on this?
>
>
>As I sat in the Steinway classes on Thursday at the Convention, and
>listened to Eric Schandall, Ron Connor, and Kent Webb talk of 1-4 grams
>of
>friction, I was reflecting back to last fall when our newest piano
>faculty
>member, quite a player with an impressive resume, asked me to do
>something
>with the light action on our most preferred D, an 8-year-old gem.  I
>knew
>what she was asking.  She couldn't control a pianissimo.
>
>I brought the action back to the shop.  The hammers were swinging about
>15-20 times.  The flanges would not hold the screws without falling.  It
>had been a couple of years since they'd been repinned and I knew what
>the
>problem was.  I repinned the hammershank flanges with 4-8 grams of
>resistance, and cranked the rep spring tension up so that the hammers
>would
>rise.  There's no worry about bouncing at the top with that much
>friction,
>and I've not had a problem yet with repetition.
>
>When her Russian accent exclaimed the word "MAGICAL", I knew I had
>earned
>her trust.  Checking problems vanished.  She raved about the voicing I
>had
>done (none of course, except for repinning the flanges).  Again, in her
>Russian accent, "you see, you have made this a wonderful instrument."
>
>And just in time for her debut recital that evening that people are
>still
>talking about a year later.
>
>Just last week, after her rehearsal with the USC orchestra, she asked if
>we
>could move that piano over next door to the Koger Center Performing Arts
>Center for the concert. (I'm not the tech for the Koger piano)  Not
>something we've ever done, but we did it for her this time.  You should
>read the review of her performance.
>
>Granted, the hammers are light on this instrument, I was getting about
>48
>grams downweight after the repinning.
>
>(Back to the convention)  I couldn't imagine being able to control an
>action with the friction parameters they were telling us were the ideal.
>However, they HAVE increased the weight of the hammers for tonal
>reasons.
>I assume the new friction parameters are an effort to offset the heavier
>hammer weight, although I think Steinway has long advocated 1-4 gram
>parameters.  But what they claim makes lower friction possible is the
>impregnation of teflon in the bushing.  It's still quite firm, but
>there's
>little friction there.
>
>I haven't run into a new one yet with the new standards you are
>describing,
>and though it would seem to me that the "new" way just couldn't possibly
>result in enough friction for good control, that is from my experience
>with
>actions before the changes had been made. I think I'd give a
>watch-and-see
>before I tried to use old techniques on Steinway's new design, and if
>you're still having problems, let the techs at Steinway hear about it.
>I
>got the impression they are making an honest effort to hear what we in
>the
>field have to say.
>
>My thoughts.
>Jeff
>
>
>Jeff Tanner, RPT
>Piano Technician
>School of Music
>813 Assembly ST
>University of South Carolina
>Columbia, SC 29208
>(803)-777-4392
>jtanner@mozart.sc.edu
>
>
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