[CAUT] Steinway repetition center pin height

[Fred Sturm]

On 6/16/07 6:56 AM, "A440A at aol.com" <A440A at aol.com> wrote:

> I have 
> increased the height of the rest cushions to overcome the capsizing problem.
> It is not only much easier than raising the cleats, it doens't upset the
> hammerflange pin to string relationship, (though there is often much to be
> improved 
> in this regard if the pinblock is not too thick.)

    Yes, and on occasion I have peeled felt from the rebound cushion to
allow for enough blow without the shanks actually resting on the cushion.
Adding and subtracting felt works okay with the current Steinway wipps (and
Renner), basically just a bit of fairly firm damper felt, but it's a problem
with the old style, with the red felt glued around and over the white (still
replicated by Tokiwa). Anyone have a good method for adjusting thickness of
those red strip covered pillows? I've cut them off and replaced with the new
style (Pianotek has a couple thicknesses), but maybe there's a nifty, faster
way I haven't come up with, to add thickness without going to all that
trouble.
    This is often a further problem on those Steinway grands where the lower
shoulder (and staple) of the tenor hammers likes to lock up with the leather
on the checks on some rebounds (My Bs from the 60s are all like that). A
different kind of lock up. Bottom line is there needs to be minimal distance
between shanks at rest and pillows, but sometimes that's hard (or at least
inconvenient) to accomplish - and have everything else work as one wants.
One certainly doesn't want to base regulation on where the pillow tops
happen to be.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico