plate warping in 1877 Steinway B?

[Delwin D Fandrich]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ron Shaffer" <ron1685@yahoo.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: November 30, 2002 8:53 PM
Subject: plate warping in 1877 Steinway B?


> I am assisting a technician who has replaced the
> pinblock and board in a Steinway B. The frame has been
> out of the piano for about 5 months. As we are fitting
> it back in, it is not at all close to sitting tightly
> on the front or rear sections of the inner rim. If I
> clamp the front down tightly, the rear (tail) will
> raise about three inches (the new pinblock is exactly
> where the old one was). Is this normal? I was worried
> that bolting it down that much would stress the plate. Thanks.
>


Having the plate out of the rim for any period of time would not have
affected anything.

While I can't say specifically without having seen the piano before the
plate was removed, during the plate removal, or being able to see it now,
this may well have been how the plate was originally installed. Plates --
all iron castings, for that -- warp when cooling and this one may have
warped more than most. Or, it may have taken them a few plates to work out
the worst of the warp by modifying the plate pattern to compensate.

You might check, though, the pinblock just one more time. While it may well
be installed "exactly where the old one was," is it angled just as the
original was? What is the thickness of the pinblock along its leading edge
compared to its back edge? Were there any shims under the pinblock (between
the block and the inner rim) allowing it to slant forward?

In any case, this is not the worst I've encountered or heard of. I once had
a call from a technician who described a M&H BB with the back of the plate
racked up over the top of the rim when it was screwed to the original block.

In the future you might want to start removing the plate bolts from around
the rim before removing the screws from the pinblock and then making a note
of any plate rise on your teardown sheet. (You do use a teardown sheet,
don't you?) Then you can refer back to your notes and see at a glance if
this is the way to plate was originally installed. If not, you'll know to
start looking for a problem.

Del