<HTML>><BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #= 0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px"></= FONT>>I should have put that in = quotes like above but isn't >>that one of their big selling points? "Hand made!" > >>Avery <Yes indeed, "hand made". ... but everything in the action is still machined... <G> Ron N> </BLOCKQUOTE> Avery and Ron, Just about two weeks ago the Chicago Chapter met at the local S&S rebuil= d shop and was treated to a presentation by Eric Schandall, which focused on= Steinway parts and how they were and are manufactured.  Yes, all of th= em are machined, most now by entirely new, redesigned machines of rather sta= ggering proportions, but machined...............by hand.  That is, almo= st all of these machines have an operator controlling them, rather than leav= ing it to computerized controls, as would usually be the case, say, in machi= ne tool shops.  Sure, the parts are made to more uniform tolerances tha= n they have ever been.......but as Ron is saying (I believe--he'll stomp me = if I'm wrong, don't worry), all of this fine, precision array is then assemb= led by hand in a piano carcass that has NOT been machined to similarly close= tolerances, hence the lack of interchangeability of actions, for example.&n= bsp; And the vastly different feel to instruments that only LOOK identical.&= nbsp; (Why this should come as any kind of surprise, I don't know!) Stan Ryberg Barrington IL Associate Member mailto:jstan40@aol.com</HTML>