New from Hamburg Steinway

[RicB]

Hi folks

A good friend of mine just got back from the second session of the 
Hamburg Academy program and had some interesting news to tell about new 
specifications for Hamburg D's

The key dip spec is now 10.5 mm. 
Blow distance is set to 49 mm
Letoff remains a close 1-1.5 mm

In addition, it looks like the NY office has decided that Hamburgs and 
NY instruments are to sound more and more alike since also new is that 
new Hamburg instruments are using a new and very much softer hammer that 
requires lacquer to build up the tone. Apparently the lacquer of choice 
for the time being is a variant of Cellulose lacquer.

Another interesting point.  At the Academy now the most respected of the 
Hamburg concert techs teaches that string seating shall be accomplished 
by using a brass dowel and a light hammer to tap the strings off the 
bridge... i.e. on the back length and speaking length,  adjacent to the 
bridge pins and in roughly the same direction as the bridge pins.  
Altso.... the idea of pushing the strings into the <<top-wood>> (as it 
apparently is called) in order to attempt a more firm clamp for the 
string by the bridge/bridge pins.  It is also now taught by the same 
concert tech that tapping pins on the bridge surface itself is a very 
big no no.

I offer no views of my own here.  Just reporting the latest news as I 
hear it.

Cheers
RicB