[CAUT] S&S M Strike point

[Bob Hull]

John,
Did they allow you to mix hammer lengths in your order?  So you varied the bore length due to the string ht. changes and you varied the shank length due to your aural tests or ? 

Bob


________________________________
 From: John Delacour <JD at Pianomaker.co.uk>
To: caut at ptg.org 
Sent: Monday, December 24, 2012 3:45 PM
Subject: Re: [CAUT] S&S M Strike point
 


On 23 Dec 2012, at 20:52, Dale Erwin <erwinspiano at aol.com> wrote:


...Also,...FWIW  I've posted many times before hanging the hammers in a straight line in any Steinway model (prior to the plate changes in the 1990s) will result in less than optimal sustain and power and... reduces clarity and tone color with the shift engaged.
>
Hello Dale,

I have indeed seen you mention this before and seen pictures of the result, and it’s always occurred to me that the reason you have found this kludge necessary is that you did not custom bore the hammers for the piano but used standard bore hammers, with the result that where the strike line is grossly arched in the middle of the scale owing to Steinway’s lack of quality control, your hammers are over-striking—that is to say striking the string a few millimetres too near the termination.  This was the case with some (probably many) grands when they left the factory in the 1970s and 80s; they were never right because they were fitted with standard bore hammers.

On the last two of these pianos I did, a Hamburg B and a Hamburg D, if I had used “standard bore” hammers I would simply have replicated the errors Steinway originally made and failed to rid them of the resulting weakness.  In the case of the B, the string height was 8mm. higher at one point in the middle of the scale than it was at the top.  I had to order hammers 5mm longer than the standard length and I then bored the hammers differentially to account for the arch in the strike line.  See the picture below.

To my mind this is the only way to do the job properly.  The result is that the hammers are all glued on at 90°, the shanks are all the standard length (say 130mm) and the hammers all strike the string at 90° (or slightly before if allowance is made for future wear).  Any other device, such as canting the heads outwards or increasing the shank length I regard as a kludge, and Steinways themselves, it seems, didn’t even bother with kludges but just let the salesmen manage their faulty goods.

A happy Christmas and New Year to all.

JD
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