<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <meta content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type"> <title></title> </head> <body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000"> Hi Chris and Andrew Ok... now these two posts put the whole thing in a little different light for me... and I can relate to these posts really well.  Essentially... one is pointing out that whilst one can in most, even extreme cases <<regulate ones way out>> of the problem, (at least as far as the lock up issue is concerned) one in these same extreme cases causes  in the process other issues that are perhaps just as if not nearly unacceptable.... i.e. extremes of key dip, hammer blow... etc.  In addition the point Andrew makes about drop screws simply not being able to high enough to do their job drove the point home for me.  I have usually solved this kind of thing by thining the drop screw cushion on the whippen rep lever.... but I will look closer at this buisness of whippen center height visa vi hammer center hight much closer in the coming months.  Thanks one and all for the enlightening perspectives.  Please continue throwing out your thoughts on this issue.  I am all ears at this point. Cheers RicB <blockquote> While I do agree with most of the remedies recently presented for CAF there is the possiblility of reducing hammer blow too much and reducing power by trying to "regulate it out." Sometimes, either because upon investigation you find that the centerpin height relationships to the string height have been tampered with, or possibly set incorrectly originally(?!) you may want to raise or lower the back mounting block (usually raise). If you do this you can reduce or eliminate the tendency to lock up on fast shallow repetition but you should rotate the entire stack around the hammer center pin by lowering (in most cases) or raising the front mounting block. This is the usual orientation for the stack in Steinways, higher in back. If you just raise or lower the rear block thereby raising the wippen (repetition support flange,ala Steinway) center you will throw the hammer center forward or backward causing among other issues centering problems. Depending on the degree to which one does this you may have to plug and redrill the screw holes in the mounting blocks although usually there is enough "play" in the cleat holes. This is the indicated "fix" in MM's fore finishing notes and Bob Marinelli and I have done this many times. It is important to note that pinning the balancier up is also very important as others have noted and I wouldn't want to move the stack around without having good friciton there first. But there can be other reasons to move the stack in this way not least of which is that someone else has tampered with the arrangement or that is was set incorrectly originally (?!) as I have said. I would like to know what procedure you use Ed F. for replacing 88 cushions because installing 4 shims and making a few swipes with a plane on the mounting blocks seems like alot less work to me. But then I 've been so wrong for so long it sometimes seems like right to me. Chris Solliday Ric, When Steinway New York builds their grands with the string-plane well above spec. and does nothing to accommodate that with the action this can be a very real problem.  This is a problem that is plaguing technicians in some very big school systems. A D at one of the schools I service was over-striking by about 3/16" when brand new.    Some hammer shaping later and it is probably closer to 1/4".  If the springs were a little weaker I'd be dealing with occasional catastrophic failure.  As it is, the shanks are well above the cushions. On another note the Steinway dealership has refused to look at the piano so far and it is still under the short warranty.  Their dealer tech broke a bunch of the drop screws trying to back them out further then they could so they were not unaware that a problem existed.  People in the UC system are encouraging the school to seek legal remedies as the camel's nose for UC to get their same Steinway problem addressed.  We may yet see a civil suit filed with the UC system offering amicus curiae briefs.  Wait till that story hits the front page of Music Trades! I obtained felt to bolster the whip cushions when the action starts capsizing but I've kept the springs strong and the key-pins polished.  The drop screws won't back out far enough to let the hammers rest anywhere close to the strings at drop so I don't have to worry about bubbling.  I hesitate to patch on more felt because this is a warranty issue Steinway should fix and I don't want to be in the middle "mucking it up."  When I called New York about it they sent action shims but no warranty service authorization.  I told the school they could pay me to do it or put the screws on Steinway.  They said Steinway WILL take the piano back and rebuild or replace it. And Andrew writes: I've had to do it on another piano with the red felt wrapped over.  Kind of ugly but that piano needs everything done to it and they asked me for the cheapest, quickest fix and they got it and like it fine. Sometimes reality just doesn't cut any slack for you, Andrew Anderson </blockquote> </body> </html>