Shift Problems

[Avery Todd]

Thanks to all for some ideas. I'll take another look tomorrow and experiment
a little with the spacing first.

At 08:48 PM 10/24/02 -0400, you wrote:
>At 6:36 PM -0500 10/24/02, Avery Todd wrote:
>>Any ideas I've overlooked? The piano is only about 1 yr. old. The
>>5 yr. old one shifts much further and is fine. Thanks for any
>>ideas.
>
>Considering the young age of the piano, I'd call it a warranty problem, 
>and give the factory
>a call.

You're correct about the warranty. I actually think that's the first
thing I'll explore. I wasn't even thinking about that, just how to "fix"
it. :-)

>As I remember Abbey Simon was for years a Baldwin artist.

As far as I know, Abbey's still a Baldwin artist. The Steinways are
what we have in the piano teacher's studios.

>Maybe he now has a Steinway because during Baldwin's change of owners, 
>they had to drop
>their service to him.

Actually, they did for a while but were supposed to start furnishing him
"his" piano again in the near future. I haven't heard anything about it
recently, though. At our last International Piano Festival, he played one
of our Steinways for his recital.

>Obviously, wherever the problem lies, the factory spaced the action parts 
>right around it without correcting it.  I'd pray that it's a bumper block 
>too fat. The consequences of trimming that are far less than those from 
>trimming the treble keyblock, as Ron points out. The factory should be 
>able to tell very quickly if you give them the width of the treble keyblock.
>
>How you set up the spacing and shift is matter of opinion, whether full 
>shift is 75%, 100% or 150% of string spacing, and whether at full shift, 
>the hammer is still striking three strings, just about to drop off the LH 
>string or allowing the LH string to be activated but the other two. These 
>are different sounds, and not all pianos sound good with all of these set-ups.
>
>At 8:09 PM -0400 10/24/02, Kdivad@aol.com wrote:
>>  By the way most of the techs I know adjust the shift so the left edge 
>> of the hammer just touches the >left string not completely missing 
>> it.  The idea being subtle changes in flavor rather than gross changes.
>
>This set-up is very exacting and it's also very vulnerable to wear and 
>weather.

I agree. It's harder to get correct and keep it that way. I also tend to
think that the pianist has more variety of sound available if the hammer
completely clears the left string. That way, one can shift the action a
little or a lot or anywhere in between.

>  What's the second B. Is that side-by-side with the 1-year-old?

Yes.

>How is the UC on that one set-up? Does Mr. Simon like that one's UC sound?

The older one shifts fine and he seems to like it, so I think I'll
also compare the widths of the two blocks before I check with the
dealer's tech here.

>Bill Ballard RPT
>NH Chapter, P.T.G.

Thanks again for all the help everyone.

Avery
University of Houston