<html> Hi Ken,              The big bag for your buck is the knuckles, those 70's knuckles are pretty rough.  I'm just rebuilding a D in the shop, and hung a few new, and improved sample shanks. Then checked UW/DW differences.   7gms bass to 5gms trebles. The tefon bushing had so many swings, I thought it was new perpetual motion type thing <G> So very little friction there. New ones were 5swings. Over all weight of shanks, within 1gm. The new knuckles look more like Kangaroo skin than Buck skin, any one know for sure?  But they have a nice smooth look, and feel. Knuckle height consistent. The new Steinway parts are very nice, and this set has lived up to the new and improved hype. Hammers prefiled and pre juiced, seem nicely shaped and quite firm.   Wippens tavelling and rotation required was on a par with Renner.  2gms lighter Most weighed between 19.5 and 20gms.  All jacks centered thro' the balancier slot. Zero adjustment required, yes read zero. Nice flange screw clearance to allow enough lateral movement for easier alignment. The under lever assy, nicely finshed, pretarvelled and spaced. No obvious splinters on any of the parts.  Seems some one has sharpened the cutting tools. Joking aside, nicely finished. The way things look I should be able to remove quite a bit of lead.  (6 leads in the bass keys.) In the past I have been one of their harshest critics, if they keep this up I will have to eat crow,  and will be happy to do it. Just some extra rambling observations. regards Roger At 10:29 PM 8/3/01 -0400, you wrote: <blockquote type=cite cite>  I service a S&S D at a local college, and recently the pianist complained of heavy touch. It's a '72 teflon, and the downweight was around 70, upweight around 30 or so. I used Protek on an experimental hammer center or two and measured a 5 to 10 gram reduction in downweight. Has anyone run into this before? I lubed all centers and used teflon on the knuckles and all was well (all things considered). The pianist called to say how happy she was and what a miraculous job I had done making the piano playable again. What gives? Ken Jankura Newburg, PA </blockquote> </html>