Steinway "S"?

[Delwin D Fandrich]

Ken Burton wrote:

> (snip...snip)
>             Steinway uprights share a problem with Heintzman uprights and
> Mason and Risch pianos--they have a v-bar or capo system that tends to
> produce severe friction as the wire tries to move. I call them "Type C"
> pianos because the tuning pin often moves before the pitch changes.

-----------------------------------

Ken,

I don't remember enough about the Heintzman design to say anything about them,
but the problem with the Steinway vertical is just the opposite.  There is not
enough friction across the V-bar/pressure bar.  To get any semblance of a
"tuned-duplex" system in the vertical design requires using either an extremely
tall V-bar -- which is undesirable for a number of technical reasons -- or an
extremely shallow string deflection angle across the V-bar.  The latter approach
was chosen by the designers of the Steinway vertical.  This string angle is to
small to adequately terminate the speaking portion of the string, hence there is
a lot of energy bleed across the V-bar and it is to small to provide enough
friction to stabilize the tuning.

I worked on a lot of these through the 70's and into the 80's.  In some cases it
was possible to alter the tuning simply by applying finger pressure on the
tuning pin.  The problem can be solved, but the solutions are really not
practical even in the rebuilding shop, let alone in the field.  It's best to
work on your tuning technique.

Regards,

Del