Steinway pinch

[Hans E. Sanders]

At least in all our performance pianos on stage I prefer to use a different approach: Install four or five keyframe glide bolts (the kind Baldwin uses with their actions, adjustable with a short screwdriver) upside down through the keybed. The bolt protrudes upward through the keybed and just slightly touches the front rail of the keyframe. You adjust the hights with a screwdriver from the buttom of the piano. 

Hans Sander, RPT
University of Louisville, KY    

>>> fssturm@unm.edu 02/18/00 10:58AM >>>
This dry time of year, keyframe/keybed knocks show up in the outer
ranges of Steinway grands. Over the years, the cardboard installed for
adjustment disappears (is removed), and other things must be done. After
turning the pin to a less worn position, and occasionally replacing the
plate in the key block (if it is particularly worn), I have always
removed the dowels (cut flush and drill out) and sanded the bottom of
the key blocks enough to be able to add cardboard again. I have thought
of retrofitting something like the Yamaha system of adjutable plates (a
screw bearing down on what looks like nylon/teflon). Does anyone out
there do that? Any comments on whether that makes more sense than
removing wood from the bottom of the blocks, either from the point of
view of long term adjustment or amount of time/trouble involved?
Regards,
Fred S. Sturm, RPT
University of New Mexico