<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en"> <html> Hi David. The point was that I was re-reading Bob Hohf article and accepting his premises for what they were. Course his article was very much about setting string heights bassed on how an action is set up to begin with. Of course you could adjust the rake as you state below. Tho some would argue anything off 90 degrees from the shank is a negative. In anycase adjusting rake or bore length was not an option in his article, nor was adjusting key height, changing the length of the hammershank, or deviating from the ideal whippen center spread. So I was just wondering if you HAD to pick between the hammer hitting the string at 90 degrees or the hammer shank being parallel to the key bed at the strike what would you choose. Bob chooses the later btw fwiw. Also, in relation to your wondering about my second question... Bobs point about the center spread being a given, and borelength being a given....and why doesnt that result in fixed values for both hammershank center and whippen centers. The fixed bore length would fix the hammershank center height... and that dictates the whippen center height given the insistance on the ideal center spread. As Hohf calls these two heights variables in his article...well it just got me to scratching my head a bit as it seemed his other "givens" more or less dictated fixed values for these as well. All this is related to some musings I have about the center spread line and getting the knuckle / jack to intersect that "correctly". Seems like you need about a 40 degree angle on that line to even come close... so how do you get that angle to work with Hohfs "optimal action configuration" Hope this is clear... sometimes I get to rambling a bit as you know.. :) Thanks for the reply Dave. Cheers RicB     David Love wrote: <blockquote TYPE=CITE>Ric B: Just for the record, why would you have to choose (except in the situation I mentioned)?  Under ordinary circumstances, you could simply bore the hammers and adjust the rake so that the shank was parallel to the keybed and the hammer was 90 degrees to the string, even if you had varying string heights. David Love   <a href="https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives"></a> </blockquote> -- Richard Brekne RPT, N.P.T.F. UiB, Bergen, Norway <A HREF="mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no">mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no</A> <A HREF="http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/ricmain.html">http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/ricmain.html</A>  </html>