leads in the keys

[Richard Brekne]

Hi Daniel

In an older action you see this quite a bit actually. Some years back it
was fashionable to use much more leads in the keys then today. And
perhaps at somepoint the hammers had been changed to a lighter set and a
quick and dirty counterbalancing was done.

I remember about 30 years ago when I did my first Steinway beater grand
hammer replacement. I'd been told loosely that I should remove a bunch
of the key leads ... grin.. so I did. One on each key. Didnt think more
about it. Hammers went on and all looked well and fine. At the time I
didnt notice anything at all about the touch. I have since wondered just
how heavy the darn thing ended up, and after the discussion of the past
few weeks I begin to wonder whether what we usually associate with
action heaviness, Balance Weight, is nearly so important after all. 

RicB


daniel carlton wrote:
> 
> is it normal for the leads inserted into the sides of the keys to be
> gone from an entire section?  most of the keys i noticed this on had
> one of two leads missing.  (it's a baldwin sd-10, if that matters.)
> 
> thanks
> 
> daniel carlton