<!doctype html public "-//W3C//DTD W3 HTML//EN"> <html><head><style type="text/css"></style><title>Re: 1890s WNG Action Geometry</title></head><body> <div>At 6:02 pm -0400 17/7/06, Farrell wrote:</div> <div><br></div> <blockquote type="cite" cite>This strikes me as a rather drastic capstan move. Has anyone else run across an action that needed such a large capstan move? As our action ratio is down to 4.9 and key ratio is down around 4.8 with the 10mm forward capstan migration, we may move it back just a few millimeters. But still it seems large. Is there some hidden pitfall I'm not seeing? Comments?</blockquote> <div><br></div> <div><br></div> <div><img src="cid:p0624052ec0e1d3043e42@[10.0.0.1].1.0"></div> <div><br></div> <div>I'm not familiar with the evolution of the Knabe but I'm surprised that such bad geometry should have persisted as late as the 1890s.  And I can't comment on the implications of your modification without seeing the whole set-up, though I wonder what your touch depth will end up as.</div> <div><br></div> <div>What strikes me from your pictures is that this piano must have an entrance height more in keeping with a tied action (illustrated above from an 1865 Kirkman) as used by Erard, Bechstein and countless others up to the 1890's.  What might have happened is that up to a certain point they did use a tied action and then some bright mechanic in the factory decided to do it the Steinway way without bothering with any calculations or sensitivity.  I imagine they corrected the error pretty quickly.</div> <div><br></div> <div>And yes, the famous London maker Collard and Collard, committed the same mistake in spades using a cloth-topped dolly like an upright contacting with a short blackleaded lever heel.  It takes very little time and wear for these actions to squeak like mad.</div> <div><br></div> <div>The tied action is fine but it does require a height not consistent with a slim piano (cf. the old Steinway A for extreme economy of design) and it makes a little more work and inconvenience for the restorer.  I guess that the capstan/heel arrangement won out in the end becuse it was more economical and allowed makers to design a piano whose proportions were more in fashion.</div> <div><br></div> <div>JD</div> <div><br></div> <div><br></div> <div><br></div> <div><br></div> <div><br></div> </body> </html>