<html> At 09:29 AM 8/1/2002 -0400, you wrote: <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>To the collective wisdom on this list: I am looking into redesigning or replacing the keys and action in an old 9' Pleyel grand. This is the model that has all the hammer flanges on one continuous pin on a brass rail plus rocker capstans. Have any of you any experience with this? Thanks Kent Webb </blockquote> I worked on a shorter Pleyel with this arrangement, as a student. I learned to burn in shanks this way ... (also to break shanks trying to burn them in.) The saving grace was that the shanks were two piece, like an upright shank and butt, so that one could drill them out and replace the broken part. This piano also had tuning pins with concentric instead of spiral grooves -- no turning them out. I was fond of it, and it ended up playing and sounding very good. Of course, even the thought of redesigning actions was decades away for me. Do keep us informed of how this project proceeds, Kent. Susan Kline P.S. Thanks for the class in Chicago. </html>