New, Improved Baldwins

[jolly roger]

At 08:21 AM 1/23/01 -0600, you wrote:
>>           The drilling of plate hole tolerance is now .004'' 
>
>Hi Roger, 
>The pin drilling relative to the plate holes is still wildly erratic, and
>in some cases off center enough to be nearly touching the side of that 7/16
>+_0.004" hole. But my point is that the holes in the plate are considerably
>bigger than they were last year, providing (to my mind) much needed
>clearance tolerance. This could have been done very easily at any time in
>the past, regardless of plate source. 
>
Hi Ron,
           Since the blocks are pre drilled, I can see where the problem is
coming from.

>
>> The ribs and board are now
>>radius crown. 
>
>Yes, at (I think) 72', and the improvement in the lone sample I tuned was
>evident. I'm looking forward to comparing it to more Ls for a continuity
>check.  I wonder how that radius was arrived at.  
>
>
>>You will also notice the ribs are notched to
>>the inner rim.
>>(Depends on Ser#) 
>
>Yes, but I'm not sure it's necessary to anything specific, one way or the
>other. Why would that be a feature?

Raises the stiffness of the board in the killer octave and up.

>I haven't been aware of material problems, which doesn't mean there haven't
>been any - just that I'm unaware, but the QC in such things as tuning pin
>height, pinblock drilling, plate height, setting bearing (especially with
>the vertical hitch pins), and action regulation are not new concepts of
>concern with the industry, and certainly not related to design changes and
>material sources. Those are very simple and basic requirements that were
>necessary from the production of the very first piano they made. I guess
>what I'm saying is, While I'm vastly encouraged that some honest effort is
>being made to improve the design, what happened to production tolerances? 

Production quality issues, is the number one concern, Getting back to
Harold Conklin's original specs has been the primary goal for the last two
years.   Board manufacture is the main deviation on the M,R, and L.

The poor quality of Kelly/Steinway plates is where many of the production
problems started. Problems dominoed with the production methods.  Once this
major area is mastered with the new plates I think you will see greater
improvements. Re: plate to block fit, plate elevation,etc.

I'm optimistic.
Roger