<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; = charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 5.50.4134.600" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT color=#000080></FONT> </DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; = BORDER-LEFT: #000080 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: = black"><B>From:</B> <A title=Wimblees@AOL.COM = href="mailto:Wimblees@AOL.COM">Wimblees@AOL.COM</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A = title=pianotech@ptg.org href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> July 06, 2001 3:05 = AM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Strike Point</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT = size=2></FONT></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT size=2>I didn't know = Steinway was at 1/8th. I was under the impression that the <BR>maximum sound, = especially in the last octave, was for 1/7th. <BR><BR>When I first got into the = business, I got an Acrosonic with all the hammers <BR>torn out. Students at the = local university got mad when the school announced <BR>a tuition increase, = and they decided to destroy university property to <BR>protest. Someone opened = up the top of the piano, and raked out all the <BR>hammers, destroying most = of the buts, and some of the wips. The university <BR>gave the piano to one = of the music students, who called me to "fix a couple <BR>of dead keys." <BR><BR>Since I didn't have samples to go by to replace the hammers, = etc. I called <BR>Baldwin and they told me to cut the shank so that hammer = strike point for <BR>note 88 was at 1/7 of the string length, and then to cut = the rest of the <BR>shanks the same length. Since then I learned that most = pianos are built <BR>basically the same. <HR> </FONT></FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE> <DIV><FONT color=#000080>Wim,</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#000080></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#000080>If someone at Baldwin told you that, they = were giving you incorrect information. No modern piano has been built using a 1/7 = strike point in the treble. It's pretty difficult to determine precisely just = what ratio is used in the treble of the piano. Consider the = following:</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#000080>    52 mm  x 1/18 = 2.9 = mm</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#000080>    52 mm x 1/16 = 3.3 = mm</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#000080>    52 mm x 1/14 = 3.7 = mm</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#000080>    52 mm x 1/12 = 4.3 = mm</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#000080></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#000080>The difference between a strike point (at = C-88) of 1/18--extremely short--and 1/12--quite long--is only 1.4 mm. Now go look = at the typical hammer as found in the modern piano at C-88 and tell me you can = really determine whether the strike point is 1/17 or 1/14 or whatever. This is = one of those things that is easy to draw out on paper, but is somewhat = problematic to actually work out in practice.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#000080></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#000080>My own practice has been to draw the scale = with a C-88 strike point of 1/14. The action installer can easily shift the action = in or out a half mm as required to compensate for the shape--or the off-center hardness--of the hammers.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#000080></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#000080>At Baldwin, the hammers were set just a bit = below the V-bar--trust me, no one ever actually measured the precise amount--and = the rest of the shanks were trimmed accordingly. If memory serves, most of the = Baldwin models ended up with a strike point of approximately 1/8 somewhere = around middle C or a bit below. I say 'approximately' because, like most pianos, it is = not altogether consistent. (Also, the Model 6000 is an exception; it ends up = with a strike point ratio of 1/5 at A-1)</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#000080></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#000080>Regards</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#000080></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#000080>Del</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV></BODY></HTML>