<font color='navy' size='2' face='Comic Sans MS, sans-serif'><font color="#000080" face="Comic Sans MS, sans-serif" size="2"><b>Hi John</b></font> <div><font color="#000080" face="Comic Sans MS, sans-serif" size="2"><b>  Good to hear from you.</b></font></div> <div><font color="#000080" face="Comic Sans MS, sans-serif" size="2"><b> I read your post and that wouldn't explain it as I custom bore all my hammer sets to plate heights minus center pin heights in each section. I'm quite fussy about it as N.Y Steinways are notorious for plate height un-even-ness thru out the string plane. My guess is that most of the German cousins has a better made plate.</b></font></div> <div><font size="2"><b><font color="#000080" face="Comic Sans MS, sans-serif"> Also even if my hammers were </font><font color="#000080" face="Comic Sans MS, sans-serif">overstriking they would be going in the right direction for improved tone.</font><font color="#000080" face="Comic Sans MS, sans-serif">  I pull the strike line towards the front of the piano not the back. I have done this countless times always with a superior result to a </font><font color="#000080" face="Comic Sans MS, sans-serif">straight</font><font color="#000080" face="Comic Sans MS, sans-serif"> strike line. see attached picture</font></b></font></div> <div style="color: navy; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial, helvetica;"><font size="1"><br> </font></span></div> <div style="color: navy; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial, helvetica;"><font size="2"> J.D wrote--On the last two of these pianos I did, a Hamburg B and a Hamburg D, if I had used “standard bore” hammers I would simply have replicated the errors Steinway originally made and failed to rid them of the resulting weakness.  In the case of the B, the string height was 8mm. higher at one point in the middle of the scale than it was at the top.  I had to order hammers 5mm longer than the standard length and I then bored the hammers differentially to account for the arch in the strike line.  See the picture below.</font></span></div> <div><font face="arial, helvetica" size="2">  </font></div> <div><font face="arial, helvetica" size="2"> </font><font face="arial, helvetica"><font size="3">Totally understood here John.</font></font></div> <div><font face="arial, helvetica"><font size="3">Best</font></font></div> <div><font face="arial, helvetica"><font size="3">Dale<br> </font></font> <div style="color: navy; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; clear: both;"><font size="1" color="royalblue"><b><font face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, Serif"><font color="black"><font color="mediumblue" face="Comic Sans MS, sans-serif">Dale Erwin R.P.T.<br> <font color="green">Erwin's Piano Restoration Inc.</font><br> </font></font></font></b></font><font color="darkgreen"><span style="font-style: italic;"><b><font size="1"><font size="1" color="black"><font color="blueviolet"><font color="black"> <font color="black" face="Comic Sans MS, sans-serif">Mason & Hamlin</font><font face="Comic Sans MS, sans-serif">/Steinway/</font><font color="black" face="Comic Sans MS, sans-serif">U.S. pianos</font><font face="Comic Sans MS, sans-serif"><br> </font></font></font></font><font size="1" color="cornflowerblue" face="Comic Sans MS, sans-serif">www.Erwinspiano.com</font><font size="1"><br> </font><font size="1" color="crimson" face="Comic Sans MS, sans-serif">Phone: 209-577-8397</font><br> <font color="darkgreen"></font></font></b></span></font><tt><tt><font color="darkgreen"><br>  </font><br>   <font size="2"></font></tt></tt><br> <br> </div> <br> <br> <div style="color: black; font-family: arial, helvetica; font-size: 10pt;">-----Original Message-----<br> From: John Delacour <JD@Pianomaker.co.uk><br> To: caut <caut@ptg.org><br> Sent: Mon, Dec 24, 2012 2:39 pm<br> Subject: Re: [CAUT] S&S M Strike point<br> <br> <div id="AOLMsgPart_2_9825ebf2-2717-4e88-8f45-6c534225a226"> <br> On 23 Dec 2012, at 20:52, Dale Erwin <<a href="mailto:erwinspiano@aol.com">erwinspiano@aol.com</a>> wrote:<br> <br> <blockquote type="cite">...Also,...FWIW  I've posted many times before hanging the hammers in a straight line in any Steinway model (prior to the plate changes in the 1990s) will result in less than optimal sustain and power and... reduces clarity and tone color with the shift engaged.<br> </blockquote> <div><br> </div> Hello Dale, <div><br> </div> <div>I have indeed seen you mention this before and seen pictures of the result, and it’s always occurred to me that the reason you have found this kludge necessary is that you did not custom bore the hammers for the piano but used standard bore hammers, with the result that where the strike line is grossly arched in the middle of the scale owing to Steinway’s lack of quality control, your hammers are over-striking—that is to say striking the string a few millimetres too near the termination.  This was the case with some (probably many) grands when they left the factory in the 1970s and 80s; they were never right because they were fitted with standard bore hammers.</div> <div><br> </div> <div>On the last two of these pianos I did, a Hamburg B and a Hamburg D, if I had used “standard bore” hammers I would simply have replicated the errors Steinway originally made and failed to rid them of the resulting weakness.  In the case of the B, the string height was 8mm. higher at one point in the middle of the scale than it was at the top.  I had to order hammers 5mm longer than the standard length and I then bored the hammers differentially to account for the arch in the strike line.  See the picture below.</div> <div><br> </div> <div>To my mind this is the only way to do the job properly.  The result is that the hammers are all glued on at 90°, the shanks are all the standard length (say 130mm) and the hammers all strike the string at 90° (or slightly before if allowance is made for future wear).  Any other device, such as canting the heads outwards or increasing the shank length I regard as a kludge, and Steinways themselves, it seems, didn’t even bother with kludges but just let the salesmen manage their faulty goods.</div> <div><br> </div> <div>A happy Christmas and New Year to all.</div> <div><br> </div> <div>JD</div> <div><br> </div> <div><br> </div> <div><br> </div> <div><br> </div> <div><img id="0ba76656-216e-40c1-915c-f0c701e00c77" height="637" width="414" src="cid:55792245-CD14-4E42-9A2E-CD7BCCC749C5@lan"><br> <div><br> </div> </div> </div>  </div> </div> </font>