<HTML>In a message dated 2/23/02 5:16:25 AM !!!First Boot!!!, poseyviolins@charter.net writes: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">The information I have says to decrease key dip by removing center shims.  If I do that, then they won't be level.  To level them would mean putting the shims back in.  Is is right to add shims to the front to decrease key dip?    On a related note (?) what is aftertouch?  It sounds like an adjustment of something after the key has travelled the required 3/8".    Hopefully, my naive questions are easy to answer. Gerald </BLOCKQUOTE> Gerald The information you have has either been misinterpreted, or is wrong. You need to level the keys first, by using the (shim) punchings. To increase or decrease dip, you add or remove front rail punchings. You do not change the key leveling. After touch is the movement of the key after let off. Wim PS. You are not the first, and will certainly not be the last person, who is new to the art of piano tuning, to ask a naive question. The main purpose of this list is to answer questions. To some, who have been in the business for a long time, there will be questions that might seem rudimentary. Yet, those same people will ask some questions which will seem rudimentary to those who have been in the business for only a short time. My answer to you might even stir up a debate, because even a person who has been in the business for 25 years, has been known to make a mistake, once in a while (big grin). Welcome to the world of piano technology. And good luck. Wim</HTML>