[CAUT] Bore distances for Steinway L

[Paul T Williams]

Sorry, I meant .410 key dip!  I'm tired and going home.

Paul




From:
Paul T Williams <pwilliams4 at unlnotes.unl.edu>
To:
caut at ptg.org
Date:
05/27/2010 04:13 PM
Subject:
Re: [CAUT] Bore distances for Steinway L



Hi Ed, 

 Yes, I ran out of keydip, but increasing blow distance to .410 has helped 
a great deal, but still am having trouble with the sharps. The naturals 
have turned out nicely now with an increase in dip without being dramatic. 
The sharps, tho are getting very close to burying, but not quite...very 
close.  I checked other L's around the school and found that they are 
nicely regulated with slightly less than 1/8" clearance above the 
naturals.  On this beast, the clearance needs to be more like 1/16"above 
the naturals which is really weird.  The knuckle to centerpin is just 
16mm, like what I replaced. Sharps are exactly .5" above the naturals. 
I checked the distance from shank to rest cushion, and it's a bit high, 
but not nasty...like 1/4"...higher than I like to see. 

This is the weirdest action I've ever dealt with, and I've done lots and 
lots over my years in this crazy biz!.  The bass section is getting close, 
and I'll try tomorrow to raise the blow on the treble a bit to see what I 
get with that. i've regulated the naturals in the treble, and strangely, 
it is coming together rather nicely, although the DW is huge.  The next 
problem to deal with. I see that the tapering was minimal, so I can trim 
the hammers some to get some weight out of the hammers. The DW is starting 
out above 60g all over! 

This action is driving me nuts! 

Thanks for all the help to you and all.  I will defeat this beast! 

Best, 
Paul 








From: 
Ed Foote <a440a at aol.com> 
To: 
caut at ptg.org 
Date: 
05/27/2010 01:55 PM 
Subject: 
Re: [CAUT] Bore distances for Steinway L




 Ok, I might be confused:

paul said 
The key level and dip is factory perfect, I've got the proper blow 
distance of 1.75". I can't get let off any closer than 1/4"!! The rebuild 
was done right and the plate is the same height as before.  I've even 
tried to raise the blow a bit, and still can't get it to let off 
correctly. The frame is perfectly bedded.  The wips are old, but in pretty 
good shape. 

then later posts: 

>>The buttons are original and plenty of room both up and down compared to 
the rail.  

Is the problem that you run out of keydip before going through escapement? 
 If so, you have too much leverage in the action.  I would recheck the 
knuckle to center pin distance.  This sounds like 17 mm shanks being put 
on a whip/key assembly that works with a 16 mm. 

>>I decreased the blow a bit, increased the dip a bit. 
How much is too much of either? <

Your dip will be limited by your sharps.  They can't bury under the 
keytops, and they can't be much more than .500" above them.  Set them .5" 
over the naturals, then set the deepest dip possible and raise then raise 
the blow until you have the amount of aftertouch you need.  If it is too 
high, you will need to change the ratio,(either capstans or knuckles)

>>I can't raise the bass hammers any farther or I won't be able to get the 
action in or out.

If the shanks are more than 3/8" off the rest cushions, you risk 
catastrophic action failure, so there are other limits on shortening blow 
besides action clearance.
Regards,

Ed Foote 


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