[CAUT] Which S&S replacement action parts?

[Mark Dierauf]

I am getting ready to order a full set of top & back action parts for an 
S&S B. On my last B I used Brook's Encore maple parts with NY hammers, 
and the Tokiwa back action, and was pleased with the results. This time 
am am intrigued by Bruce Clark's composite repetitions (although I'm not 
ready to try the carbon fiber shanks) which I believe are available, my 
thinking being that the versatility of heel configurations combined with 
the light weight might be useful in dialing in the touch-weight 
characteristics that I'm looking for. I'm assuming that these are too 
new for anybody to have any direct experience with them, but I trust 
that any lack of direct knowledge won't stop anyone here from piping in 
with their (well-reasoned, of course) opinions ;-)

For shanks and flanges I'm still leaning towards the Encores, because of 
their light weight and the plethora of knuckle configurations. The sets 
that I bought a couple of years ago were well manufactured with 
consistent center pinning, but I saw a somewhat more recent set at a 
colleague's that had some inconsistencies with the angle of the knuckle 
cores. Any thoughts on these as opposed to Renners? Frankly I'm still a 
little gun shy with regard to the Tokiwas, having been burned badly more 
than once with center pins seizing under hard use, and this is an 
institutional performance/rehearsal instrument.

Finally, I remember Jon Page having some bad luck with breaking 
underlever posts (I think) on the newer redesigned Tokiwa kits. Has this 
issue been resolved or is the older version of this kit still available? 
The last Renner kit I got had tight pinning and many of the posts were 
disconcertingly non-perpendicular with the underlevers, IOW the center 
pin drilling seemed to be off.

Finally I might mention that this will be the 2nd action that I've 
installed in this piano, the last one having been done in 1999 along 
with a belly package. At the time I removed some front leading and used 
the Renner Turbo wips to overcome high touchweight issues on this late 
teflon vintage piano. The results were pretty good, but the ensuing 9 
years have given me a lot more experience to better deal with 
touchweight. This time around I'm looking to add to that experience and 
get the best possible results.

- Mark Dierauf