At 04:06 PM 2/4/2005 -0800, you wrote:
>(Maybe Susan has a copy?)
Susan JUST HAPPENS to have a copy -- not having a son to "tidy up" my
files, I have been able to go right to it. Of course it helps that this
post dates from 1997, back when I still took the time to sort and organize.
Back then I thought that if my In Box had 300 posts I was way behind. I had
yet to discover that Eudora can handle 5000+ posts in a box and (usually)
not tangle or lose any. Sometimes I wish she WOULD lose some ...
Best,
Susan
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In November, 1997, Horace wrote (to Avery):
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NY and Hamburg pianos require very different approaches, depending on
the period of manufacture.
Some background:
Prior to W.W.II, both factories manufactured instruments that, while
different in certain ways, were virtually identical in others. So much
so that from the earliest period of the re-establishment of
manufacturing in Hamburg, NY was shipping everything from action parts
to completed pianos to London and Berlin, as well as Hamburg. Yes, parts
came this way as well, and not all models were consistently produced in
both plants.
The destruction of the Hamburg facilities through the firebombing of
Dresden and Hamburg during W.W.II created a real problem. With the end
of the war, NY had its own problems, and insufficient reserves to
rebuild in Germany. Enter Louis Renner, et al. Renner offered to rebuild
the facilities in Hamburg. There was, of course, a catch. The catch was
that Steinway would have to use actions, back actions, hammers, and
other parts from Renner. This began the real divergence between the two
branches of the company. The Renner parts, while generally conforming to
NY specifications, actually were (are) quite different. The reasons do
not matter, the matter just is what it is. The results are the
differences of touch and tone which we have come to expect from the two
factories.
What then, are these differences?
Let's start with NY.
The following general procedure was in use up through, roughly, the
1987-1988 production period.
First, the location of the keyframe and cheek blocks was set relative
to the arms of the case of the piano. In the earlier days, the keyframe
and keybed were then drilled for tuning pins used as locators. Then the
back of the keybed was planed dead flat. The keyframe was roughly fit to
this, (the forefinisher could only rough-set this because it was usually
done without the keys or the stack) and then the dags were installed.
The dags were located by gluing a piece of 1/8th inch veneer to the back
of the keyframe (or the front of the dag, if the foreman was not
looking), and then inserting the keyframe into the action bay and
clamping it in place. The dags were then glued in place at intervals
determined by the location of the veneer pieces. After the glue had set,
the fit of the keyframe was checked again. (There is a lot of
misunderstanding about the purpose of the dags. They are NOT there just
for transportation. They serve the crucial function {in the NY pianos}
of providing stability for the back rail of the action. Too tight, and
the action will not shift reliably. Too loose, and the action flops
around and the touch is not stable.)
When this is done, the keybed is planed concavely front to back along
the axis of the grain (or perpendicular to the keys, if you prefer). It
is planed such that the depth of the convexity is app. 1/16 inch; and
its deepest point is under the center rail of the keyframe. Then 1/8th
to 1/4th inch of the leading side of the top of the keybed is planed
convex by 1/32nd to 1/16th inch, with the high point at the center of
the keybed. The leading 1/8th to 1/4th inch of the leading edge of the
underside of the front rail is then planed to be a mirror image of the
keybed; that is, convex in the opposite direction by 1/32nd to 1/16th
inch. The keyframe is constructed so that only the end stretchers
between the front and back rail are flat. These are then planed so that
they do not touch the keybed, save at the narrow areas described above.
The procedure for locating the cheek blocks has varied over the
years. The most prevalent iteration being to use the location as set
from the arms, and then locate the brass guides relative to the pins in
the keyframe.
Once that has been done, the keyframe can be inserted and clamped in
place with the cheek blocks, and the forefinisher can work to perfect
the mating of the keyframe and keybed with (hopefully) fine sandpaper.
This whole thing is a part of the overall forefinishing process,
which, in Steinway's case, is a patent process. (Basically, that means
that not only can it not be copied, but they cannot vary from it and
still legally use the descriptive language from the patent documents.)
The purpose of this section of the forefinishing process is to provide
the most solid connection of the action to the balance of the piano
possible, so that the pianist may get the feedback of the vibrations of
the piano through the keys. (This speaks directly to the recent threads
on the forum, re: "singing rims" etc.) The original patent documents
describe this feedback quite dramatically and make interesting reading
anyway...
This process was used from very early on, right up through the use of
the Pratt-Read keys and keyframes, until 1985, when the switch was made
to Renner action parts and Renner and Kluge keys and keyframes.
Servicing keyframes from this period is usually a process of figuring
out what was done during the original manufacture and why it was done.
Most often, in my experience, this has involved some degree of seeing
through the mist created by some well-meaning, but ill-advised
colleague. Basically, even if some set of arbitrary numbers seem to be
out of whack, if the original work seems to have been done a certain
way, just follow that. There is usually some (good) reason that
something was done, and most of the time, you just have to redo your own
work when you find out why.
These pre-1985 keyframes were made of heavy Oak, Walnut and Maple.
They were well seasoned and held regulation well. The Renner/Kluge
keyframes are made of European species, are much lighter and are
designed for a different kind of piano altogether.
Beginning in 1987-1988, NY began planing the keybeds mostly flat,
with areas of concavity around the maple plugs for the glides. While
some improvements have been made over the earlier keyframes, they are
wildly susceptible to weather changes, as I am sure you have discovered.
Further, their lightness of mass influences not only their ability to
hold regulation, but also their ability to transmit energy. Their
planing in the front rail area is usually limited to the last 4-6" of
distance from the ends of the keyframe, and seems to be further limited
to the keybed itself - there is little, if any, attempt to mirror the
work. The result, of course, is a keyframe which is never quite stable;
which brings me to:
Hamburg keyframes.
In the period immediately following W.W.II, the Hamburg pianos were,
at first, just put together from whatever could be salvaged from London
and Berlin, as well as Hamburg. There was also, for a time, some bigger
pieces coming from NY. But it was a different world. The influence of
Renner can hardly be overstated. Renner was, and is, the world's largest
producer of piano parts. They make parts to manufacturer's
specifications, to be sure; but, the manufacturers make sure their
specifications fit what Renner is set up to do. No company was/is more
in this predicament than Steinway. Has it been all bad? Definitely not,
but it has significantly influenced the course of the company.
So, what about Hamburg?
What about it, indeed?
Because things were in turmoil for a while, I will take an arbitrary
date of 1960 for talking about Hamburg keyframes. Yes, it was mostly
stable during the preceding 15 years, but there was variation.
Anyway, the post W.W.II Hamburg piano became a truly European
instrument. Nowhere is this more true than in the concept of the action,
and its relation to the rest of the piano.
In Hamburg, the keybeds are generally dead flat. None of the planing
described for the NY pianos above. The action frames are what you see on
the post-1985 NY instruments, lightly built and highly susceptible to
weather changes.
The installation is markedly different as well. All of the fitting is
done to predetermined dimensions. Keyframe, cheek block, dag and action
placement are done independently. At one point (I think it is no longer
the case), the entire action was introduced as a finished unit quite
late in the manufacturing process. The keyframe itself, while arched, is
so light that it depends on the glides for structural support. These
actions depend for their bedding on making things work. The keybed,
being flat, does not lend itself to being replaned. The keyframe, in
many of the ones I have seen, is only planed toward the ends, so that it
is a relatively sharp angle. Smoothing this angle is sometimes all that
is needed.
END
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