New York or Hamburg

[John Hartman]

Roger,

Rather than re-bush double bushed guide rails I make new damper rails. I
copy everything except the diameter of the holes which I drill with a #7
bit and bush so a #8 bridge pin is tight. I size and stabilize the
bushed holes with water and hot bridge pins.

BTW most Hamburg Steinways I have seen have nickel plated plate lags
some what taller than usual. Many were equipped with wippen support
springs. Most do note have a sustinuto and the case styles are
different.

John Hartman RPT


Roger Jolly wrote:
> 
> Greetings All,
>                I'm just starting to rebuild a Steinway Model O Ser#189171
> A date stamp was found on the rear of the under lever tray 2nd May 1918.
> The plate and case was poorly refinished with the strings still on. The
> pins & strings were beautifully painted, strings were so rusty measurement
> is unreliable. Only after rubbing down the plate did I know for sure that
> it was an O. Also a number of strings have been replaced in this  register
> to add to the complicationsThe scaling is slightly different from the
> Hamburg to the New York models. Now to the question, is the bridge and
> plate geometry different? or was this done for an empirical reason?  Any
> advice or confirmation of origin would be helpful and save me calculating
> the 5 or 6 note differences. One clue that I do have that makes me suspect
> that it's from Hamburg is the 18mm plate lag bolts.
> 
>   I will be rebushing the damper guides, they have a thin black woven inner
> guide felt with a traditional red woven contact felt glued to it, the
> person that I spoke to at Steinway thought I was from Mars. For those with
> Steinway experience, two questions. Do you rebush with a heavy bushing
> cloth to compensate, or where can I obtain the two correct thickness of felt?
> 
>  Final question if it's a Hamburg Steinway do you string SWG or metric?
> 
> Thanks in advance. Roger
> Roger Jolly
> Baldwin Yamaha Piano Centre
> Saskatoon and Regina
> Saskatchewan, Canada.
> 306-665-0213
> Fax 652-0505