[CAUT] Fw: mystery center pinning

[Kent Webb]

Hello All,

It's not often I get a chance to view the list but I
did see this post and can confirm what Ed wrote. The
S&S spec for center pins torque is 1-4 grams but I
have seen many sets work fine at less than one gram.
Like many of you, I was accustomed to a higher torque
(more like 4-6 grams) but S&S uses a dense felt with a
teflon extender that enables very low friction while
maintaining a firm control. A great advantage of this
is accelerated up-weight and, from my expereince, when
many pianists say they want a lighter touch they are
really trying to tell us they want the keys to stay
with their fingers as they lift from the keys. The
higher the upweight, the faster the key will stay with
thier fingers on the return to full at-rest position.

Hope this helps.
Kent Webb

--- Ed Sutton <ed440@mindspring.com> wrote:

> I believe what you have are parts behaving according
> to current genuine Steinway factory standards, i.e.
> "swing as many times as possible as long as there is
> no wobble side to side."
> Others of greater authority than I will either
> confirm or demolish this statement.
> 
> Ed S.
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: Barbara Richmond 
> To: College and University Technicians
> Sent: 12/3/2004 11:17:25 PM 
> Subject: [CAUT] Fw: mystery center pinning
> 
> 
> Yet another question, folks,
> 
> I had to repin all the Steinway shanks I recently
> installed.  When they came, they were the best
> examples of perpetual motion machines I had ever
> seen.  Well, golly, almost all of them have loosened
> up again!--not to their original state, but much
> looser than I find acceptable. (The piano got used a
> couple of times while work was in progress.)   Dang,
> I've never had this happen before---am I in the
> twilight zone?  I couldn't believe my eyes.  Would
> shrinking the cloth help before I pin....again?   I
> do have plenty of high quality bushing cloth on
> hand.......groan.
> 
> Also, I was surprised the first time I repinned to
> find that the center pins were all .052.  That
> seemed sort of big for original pinning.  I replaced
> them with .053.  Now I feel like I'm going to end up
> using telephone poles to get them right.  Here I
> thought I was almost done with this job and now
> this......  :-(
> 
> Help!
> 
> Barbara Richmond, RPT