<html> <body> Israel - As Mr. Burns would shisper, while rubbing his hands together, "Excellent"!! Your pictures  illustrate two critical points. Notice how far below the top of the red Steinway check you have to go to find a relatively un-arced (vertical) surface as compared with the green Tokiwa. The more arc or horizontal the orientation of the surface, the more inclined the hammer is to impact and bounce off. The actual angle of the leather face, not the angle of the wire bend, is much farther off perpendicular in the Steinway than the Tokiwa.  Even if you make the correction in the Steinway angle (bring check more vertical), the distance between a perpendicular line drawn tangent to the surface of the most prominent part of the"bulge" of the Steinway check and a similar line representing the "active" catch surface is greater than the comparable two lines drawn on the Tokiwa.  The ramification of this is that, for like-shaped tails, the Steinway check would have to be farther back, to allow the tail to clear that bulge, than the Tokiwa. This would likely remain an issue even if the Steinway check were brought more vertical.  Geometrically, it's the difference between two convex arcs verses one arc and one flat surface, or in some designs, one convex and one, slightly concave arc.  The Steinway check would have to be higher and angle straightened to come close to the geometry of the Tokiwa.  That could present problems in the bass and tenor, with checks contacting hammer felt. The wire dimensions would be useful.  The Steinway looks thicker, though that might be an illusion.  Still, the comparative wire characteristics would be interesting.  I wonder what, if any, functional difference there would be between these, which are installed at 90 degrees, then bent, verses the older style of angled installation.  For one thing, I think it alters the discussion about removing them or increasing the height.  I don't think you can effectively use hammer removing pliers directly under the heads with this type of wire configuration.  They would work in conjunction with a second gripping too, positioned at the wire bend. Its easy to see why changing out these checks would solve your problem, without resorting to tail roughing or weakening springs. Nice camera work.  Maybe we can talk to Sherry (of "We did something wrong" fame) , over there in Tuscaloosa to get you in to take some pictures while aWim's away skiing-not in Denver. Too all - don't forget to keep those trees watered. David Skolnik At 01:46 AM 12/24/2006, you wrote: <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">At 11:00 AM 12/23/2006, caut-request@ptg.org wrote: <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">Too bad you can't send some pictures.  While not conclusive, it would be interesting. Happy holidays David Skolnik</blockquote> Well, I got ambitious and took some pictures. Front view, side view, and side view with the approximate angle when installed in the piano. I hope they are useful. JPG files are attached. Steinway current style - red felt, Tokiwa's old-style Steinway - green felt. Israel Stein </blockquote></body> </html>