Steinway Keyboards

[Horace Greeley]

Avery,

Yeah, lots - since S&S went to Kluge keys in roughly 1987.  The
early ones were as tight as what you are now describing as loose...
keys literally split while on the pins.  Nasty.

The only real fix is to install hardwood plates into the keys.  Bill
Spurlock had a marvelous setup for this, which he wrote about
in the Journal some time ago.  Note that this fix also allows you
to get away from _some_ of (what I find to be) the excessive "spring"
in the keys.

What makes Bill's procedure valuable is that the plate can be made of
any material you want, and allows you complete control over movement,
thus limiting potential for clicking, etc.  Having tried the phenolic and
circuit board inserts from (I think) American, and found them to be sources
of noise themselves, I was most happpy to switch.

Good luck.

Best.

Horace


At 02:28 PM 10/7/97 -0500, you wrote:
>List,
>
>   Does anyone have recent experience with a lot of new Steinways? Every
>one of our 6 new B's & 1 D has pulley keys, anywhere from a little to
>noisily obnoxious. It's being taken care of by glue sizing, but I was
>just wondering if this is common and if so, why? Who makes their
>keyboards now?
>   I don't know if it's in the drilling or if some tech in the factory
>is overeasing the keys at the balance hole.
>   Once all of these, IMHO, shouldn't be needed repairs are made, I think
>the pianos are going to be very good.
>   Just wondering if others have had this same problem and what might be
>causing it in the first place. Thanks.
>
>Avery
>
>___________________________
>Avery Todd, RPT
>Moores School of Music
>University of Houston
>Houston, TX 77204-4893
>713-743-3226
>atodd@uh.edu
>http://www.uh.edu/music/
>
>
>
>
Horace Greeley

Systems Analyst/Engineer
Controller's Office
Stanford University

email: hgreeley@leland.stanford.edu
voice mail: 650.725.906
fax: 650.725.8014