Tom writes:
> Steinway M. "Sapelle "Veneer. Very pretty.
>This piano is two years old and my client was complaining about
>playability. Lettoff and drop was all over the place, tight balance rail
>holes, jacks needing alignment to knuckles. Also noticed what looked like
Graphite grease in the balancier
>(rep-lever)spring seats.
I found the hammer shank action centers to be very tight.
>Two- Three swings only. I had no luck with protek on a sample.
> I consulted with Steinway N.Y. and spoke with David Kirkland
>in Tech services. He was very supportive but had never heard of this
>problem before.
Then he must be brand new at the job, Steinway has had this problem in
their pianos for more than several years.
>1. If treated with liquid Teflon at the factory, why would Protek
>CPL (Teflon) be short-term in the field?
Because there is too much felt in there for the pin size. It is a
compression problem that stems from the way that the factory sizes their
bushing felt once installed. (they use "wetting" pins and then re install a
final pin. By going to a larger pin,(for "stability" reasons, I was told),
they had to do more wetting. When the felt begins to expand in the field,
the tightness becomes a problem. I have repinned more than several complete
actions because of this, (see below).
>2. Will the alc-water treatment be effective on a center so
>treated?
No, If "effective" means a smooth, even hammer line with the friction
well controlled.
>3. Have you seen tight centers on other new Steinways?
Many times.
>4. Could that black stuff on the reps really be graphite and is it
>factory applied?
Yes, and Yes.
>As I mentioned the gentleman was supportive and authorized the
>aforementioned warranty service, but I think I might have to ream and
>repin at least a portion of these.
I did, on factory recommendation, use the alcohol treatment. There
wasn't a tight pin left in the bunch, but upon removal and examination, there
were a majority of them that were so loose that you could see the hammers
move from side to side when moving a smooth slat of wood underneath a section
at a time. The alcohol treatment's major benefit is how quickly and easily
you can free up an action. The downside is that it is indiscriminate and
gives no assurance of evenness. Any pins that were right will become way too
loose.
I had to repin the entire hammerlines of these pianos, (takes about 90
minutes if you have had the privilige of seeing Don Mannino's pinning class).
Even though I was told by factory rep that this wouldn't be a long term
solution, I have found that it has. Repinning is the only way I have found
to insure the sort of response that these pianos were designed to provide.
The cheap, quick way has no place on a new, top-end, instrument. The damper
pinning should also be inspected, as well as the side pressure of the damper
wires.
As to the regulation, the factory doesn't concern itself with that,
relying on the "dealer prep" to have their pianos properly set up in the
field. I think you will find that the springs are too strong when the hammer
pinning is right, check to see how many front pins are nicked(from a spacing
tool), before the keybushings are prematurely worn out. A quick scan across
the balancier mortises will probably show a few jacks that need moving to
center, and the string leveling will almost assuredly be absent. The
Steinway way of hammer alignment allows for a lot of traveling. This gives
an even appearance at rest, and the hammers usually hit all three strings,
but the plate drilling isn't very even and the hammers really travel a lot to
do their job. I think this accelerates pinning wear.
There is a long list of what a new Steinway needs in preparation. It
seems that sales persons don't really consider it an asset to tell people
that their new piano will need a complete regulation after a year or two of
play. This strikes me as strange, since a new Mercedes or Lexus owner knows
that there will be a $700 check--up after the first 10,000 miles or so.
Regards,
Ed Foote RPT
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