I agree with David, I like the design. Most of the times I run into it, the front glides are badly out of adjustment, and it can be a bit of a pain to work though the steps to get them right starting from haywire. I think a lot of techs turn them by mistake, thinking they are keyslip screws or something. Or they "just start adjusting away" without any forethought or plan, and make a mess of things, kind of like a lot of the drop screws I find. The system works well when it is set right, and when it isn't, it is easier to get right than a warped front rail, at least in my experience. One thing I notice, the cheek blocks can pull down on the ends of the front rail using the top and bottom most glides as a fulcrum, and create a gap/thump in the middle. So you have to watch out for excessive squeeze from the "key-flame glides" (<G> as Yamaha called them for years in parts lists). Regards, Fred Sturm University of New Mexico fssturm at unm.edu On Dec 23, 2008, at 9:36 AM, Porritt, David wrote: > Ed: > > You know, for some reason I always thought the "front rail glide" > was a good idea. Knabe did that on some pianos early in the last > century. I've adjusted them and had good results. There's > something that bothers me about "destructive" ways to adjust > things. Removing wood on the front rail that can never be put back > on to adjust the fit seems odd though I'm aware that it has been > "traditional" forever. I just prefer systems that can be actually > adjusted. OK, it's just one of many psychological flaws. > > dp > > > David M. Porritt, RPT > dporritt at smu.edu
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