<HTML style="FONT-FAMILY: MS Sans Serif; FONT-SIZE: x-small"><HEAD> <META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.19222"></HEAD> <BODY style="WORD-WRAP: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space"> <DIV> <DIV>Exactly! A most incorrect way to weigh off keys IMO. The mass of the key, the friction factors and the differences of hammer mass were not taken into consideratin!</DIV> <DIV>That's my take on it.</DIV> <DIV>Joe</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV></DIV></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt Arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial; BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=alliedpianocraft@hotmail.com href="mailto:alliedpianocraft@hotmail.com">Al Guecia/Allied PianoCraft</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To: </B><A title=joegarrett@earthlink.net href="mailto:joegarrett@earthlink.net">joegarrett@earthlink.net</A>;<A title=pianotech@ptg.org href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A></DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> 5/24/2012 5:01:19 AM </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [pianotech] key leading documentation</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV><FONT size=2>Joe, I don't know what's going on now, but when I worked at Steinway, every grand action was weighed off.  <DIV><BR></DIV> <DIV>The person doing the job (I can't remember his name. Big old Irish fellow) got the action with a lead pattern for that model, then he proceeded to weigh and adjust each key. He would then drill and insert leads as needed. I also noticed that he rarely removed lead. If the key was to heavy or he didn't have a good location or size, he added weight to the front to counterbalance.</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV> <DIV> <DIV apple-content-edited="true"><SPAN style="WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; TEXT-INDENT: 0px; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate; FONT: medium Helvetica; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); WORD-SPACING: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px" class=Apple-style-span> <DIV>Al -</DIV> <DIV>High Point, NC</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV></SPAN><BR class=Apple-interchange-newline></DIV><BR> <DIV> <DIV>On May 23, 2012, at 11:13 PM, Joseph Garrett wrote:</DIV><BR class=Apple-interchange-newline> <DIV>Paul said:<BR>"If I were interested in studying key leading patterns in different pianos<BR>by<BR>taking pictures of certain keys, which keys would be the most<BR>useful/representative? I find it easy to lay out all the Cs one below the<BR>other, but this does not show the typical changes in numbers of leads<BR>between sections, or where they occur. The difficulty I have found in<BR>trying to capture the first and last key of each section is that photos of<BR>black keys do not easily show the leads, which have been painted. Also, I'm<BR>not sure comparing #26 sharp leading with #27 natural leading is the<BR>best/most meaningful. Ideas? Does anything like this already exist<BR>someplace?<BR><BR>Trying to learn about action ratios, inertia, etc. -- that is, from the<BR>point of view of what's been done in the past, is common to certain makes,<BR>models, periods of manufacture, etc. Thanks in advance for any suggestions."<BR><BR>Paul,<BR>There are two ways that keys were leaded, imo. 1. a pattern was taken from<BR>the prototype piano and was used on all of that model, regardless of the<BR>considerations of friction, assembly line errors, different key material<BR>masses and any other thing having to do with the actual function of a piano.<BR>2. There have been a few factories that made the action correctly, in<BR>regards to friction and action geometry, w/in the boundaries of mass<BR>production, (albeit small quantities), and weighed off every set of keys<BR>before the darn thing went in the crate.<BR>I don't think any U.S. companies fell into #2.<G><BR>Studying what they did, really is of no concequence and is, imo, a waste of<BR>your valuable time. Better to take John Rhodes/Darrell Fandrich class on<BR>inertia. They'll answer all of the questions rattling around in your<BR>punkin'.<G><BR>That's my take on that. <BR>Joe<BR><BR>Joe Garrett, R.P.T.<BR>Captain of the Tool Police<BR>Squares R I<BR><BR><BR></DIV></DIV><BR></DIV></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>