Old agraffes had flat bottoms and you were required to use shims to get them to fit properly. With the beveled contour of the bottom currently in production you don't need to do that. The brass is soft enough and there's little enough of it where the agraffe first contacts the plate that you can easily turn the agraffe past where it bottoms out to get the alignment you need. The softer brass at the edge of the bevel will simply splay out as you tighten it down. Work it back and forth if you have to go farther than a quarter turn so has not to put to much stress on the shank. I don't see any reason to search through each agraffe turning them in and out to find the perfect fit, and you don't need to use shims. The fitting shims that one once used were thin enough to have no significant impact on downbearing. David Love davidlovepianos at comcast.net www.davidlovepianos.com At the factory, we always used shims. Wont change the downbearing enough to make a difference. Mr. G Allied PianoCraft
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