[CAUT] Which S&S replacement action parts?

[Douglas Wood]

Hi, all. I'm looking for perspective in what follows, as I come from  
a background where the rewards for staying close to the "Steinway  
Way" have been very great.

I am curious that the current Steinway parts have not been mentioned  
in this query. I have had very good results in selecting between the  
current production parts (look at them, they continue to get nicer  
even this year!) and the "pre-84" parts by noticing whether I would  
prefer to remove about 1 lead per key or add about 1/2-1 lead per  
key. I also check dip carefully, after setting the spec blow and  
aftertouch. If I then address all the friction points properly, most  
players accommodate very readily, and very happily to the final result.

I do keep an eye out for errors in capstan placement, and for the  
occasional piano/owner combination where moving toward optimal may  
not be enough. But I have only rarely felt the need to either move  
capstans or "redesign" the action.

I have had some unsatisfactory experiences with shanks that are  
thinned too far down the scale. For example our older D here had a  
history of being less and less well-accepted until I came on 5 years  
ago. Lang Lang was here then, and recognized that something was  
limiting his big sound, and we both agreed it was not tone  
development in the hammer. Before the next season, I took out the  
thinned shanks and put in current NY shanks, and the power went up  
the amount I would normally expect with 3 full lacquerings. !! I  
subsequently had to replace the hammers because I had over-lacquered  
them in attempting to get the full power out of the piano.

My tentative conclusion about shanks is that the artists need the  
stiffness. Most of them are remarkable athletes at the keyboard, and  
it is easy to underestimate their ability to work the action. I'm  
quite curious about the new carbon-fiber shanks, as they should be  
noticeably stiffer. That should improve energy transfer. I'm  
wondering if it will be better all-in-all to reduce tonal changes  
(and what they provide in enlarging the color palette) from shank  
flexing in favor of energy transfer. Likely, but I hope that we'll be  
asking that question. Can the shanks be "too stiff"?

I do understand that Steinway knows all too well how to charge for  
their parts. (Anyone ever thought of pegging their price increases to  
Steinway's?) But I do find them to work exceedingly well, and be  
quite durable. I am also fortunate that our staff rebuilding time is  
small enough that the administrator is happy to pay for as many parts  
of my choosing as I can actually get into pianos.

Doug Wood

School of Music
University of Washington


On Jun 25, 2008, at 8:42 AM, Mark Dierauf wrote:

> 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
>