<html> <body> At 11:00 AM 12/18/2006, David Skolnik <davidskolnik@optonline.net>  wrote: <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite=""> <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">Jon, You may be on to something here. So far I had two Steinways with seemingly "intractable" checking problems - one B at San Francisco State and one D in a client's home. Everything mentioned on this list in this thread was tried (and a few more things too), </blockquote> Would you say what those more things were?</blockquote> I'll have to dig through the files in school for the B - it was the other tech here who actually did the work. We did discuss it back and fort a lot though.... On the D I played with the regulation an awful lot... <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite=""> <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">and nothing seemed to work. Replacing the backchecks with the Tokiwa- made old-style Steinway backchecks (longer) cleared up all the problems on both pianos ($150/set, Pianotek). It seems that on a lot of them the hammer tails are just too short for the new style, shorter backchecks... Israel Stein</blockquote> Israel - As with Wim - you also did not indicate the manufacturing year of your pianos. </blockquote> The D is 1999. The B has been rebuilt so many times with such a mishmash of parts that the year of manufacture is basically irrelevant... <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite=""> It's true that there was a period when the tails were extremely short, but that's not too recent, in my experience.  If it were only the height of the checks in relation to the tails, why couldn't you simply raise the backchecks?  </blockquote> How? Those Steinway backcheck wires are pressure fit on both ends - you don't have threads on which you could "raise" the backchecks... <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">As an experiment, it falls short of completely explaining the issue, since there are undoubtedly differences in a number of characteristics between the two brands.  Can you look at the two side by side and compare them? </blockquote> I did. The Tokiwa backchecks look just like the old Steinway backchecks - both in length and in shape (longer and fatter/rounder at the top than the current Steinway backcheck). See, I had an extra one floating around, and so I put it on one of the worst-checking notes on the D - and presto, all the problems went away. That's good enough for me. It was also good enough for the client - he paid for the replacement of all of them, and loves the results. And if Wim is willing - I'll be glad to send him one of my 2 leftover Tokiwa backchecks to try out... And having prepped one hell of a lot of Steinway grands at two Steinway dealers (Boston and San Francisco) over the years, I'm really not interested in screwing around with Steinway backchecks any more than I absolutely have to - they gave me enough grey hairs already... Israel Stein </body> </html>