List, I just picked up the action from a Steinway M #526486 (1994, I think) that has had hammers reglued (9) closer to the flange. The notes are F# 5 thru D6. I was just wondering if anyone had ever run across one of this age which needed a curved hammer line. The previous tech didn't curve it. He just moved those 9 hammers app. 3/16" in on the shanks. Supposedly to improve the tone right there. I checked the striking point all the way from 88 down to that point and everything seemed fine. I tried moving the action in and tilting some to see if I could detect any appreciable difference. I couldn't, so I'm planning on moving the hammers back into their original straight line position and then working on the tone with filing/juicing/needling/hammer fitting, whatever is needed. The customer was describing the tone as being too nasal. To me, that means a bright, brittle, tight kind of sound. The tone on the piano is actually quite mellow. Too mellow. There's no focus or core to the sound at all. Once I started focusing in on her definition of "nasal", it turns out that she was using "nasal" to describe the "too soft" sound. So I'm pretty sure that bringing the tone up will solve her complaint in that area. The remainder of her complaints all involve regulation that is very inconsistent. That should be no problem. I was just wondering about the possiblity of a curved hammer line. This particular customer has been a PR nightmare for the dealer, so this is a warranty job to try and solve the problems for him. Comments? Thanks. Avery _____________________________________ Avery Todd Moores School of Music University of Houston Houston, TX 77204-4893 atodd@uh.edu _____________________________________ Join CAUCE (The Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email) at: http://www.cauce.org/
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