Steinway action noise

[Richard Brekne]

Hi Greg

I have the sense the rails were probably in the right place (or at least 
quite an acceptable one) with the old parts installed.  So it strikes me 
that moving the rails would be my last resort.  I'd like to see a pic of 
the whippen and shank with the key in rest position and at full blow.  
(grin... without the thumb... tho I see what you were demonstrating) I'd 
also like to see a pic of the whippen cushion on the capstan at rest. Is 
the jack a bit angled in towards the knuckle core at rest position ?

Looks to me, tho its hard to tell from the pic, that the drop screw is 
kinda way out towards the end of the leather cushion on the whippen.  
I'm wondering if the distance from the center of your shank flange screw 
to the shank flange center pin is also different from your origional 
parts.  I've run into this a few times through the years.  The 
combination of the center pin being 1 mm farther out from the flange 
screw and the knuckle itself being about 1 mm farther out makes things 
interesting even with the original whippens. If so, see if you can get 
the old parts. You can exchange shank flanges and get at least that that 
bit out of the way.  This might also correct any angle change in the 
flanges caused by the different profile. 

Thing is... if the knuckle ends up being a combined 2 + mm farther out 
on the whippen rep lever.. then the whole shank sits lower down on the 
arm. Thats going to put your jack closer in contact with the flange at 
full blow unless I'm mistaken.

Cheers
RicB


    Ric & List,

        I guess what I haven't said so far is that this struggling music
    department in an all girls Catholic high school (privately funded)
    didn't
    have the money for the restoration in the first place (not my fault) and
    therefore the bean counters (not the music director) went with the
    cheapest
    estimate. Because I do a fair amount of other work for this music
    director
    at the school I'm inclined to do what I can without cheating myself.
        As mentioned I do have to return and take a good look at the
    dampers. Something is quite messed up here and for now it's a
    somewhat fun
    little puzzle. Even with a few properly regulated keys I still get a
    little
    jack slap. I know that I could simply put a thicker felt in the jack
    window
    but what I'm really after here is why this is happening. Is there a
    better
    way to go about this than simply shimming things? If I could move
    the rails
    should I?

    Greg