Pulling the action

[Antares]

Hi Keith,
if you go to a factory where they build very expensive instruments, they
will voice not the piano, but themselves to death.
Some factories (like Bösendorfer) even go so far as to completely take apart
the grand action after having put the instrument on a "pounding machine".
They then inspect every part for damage, and afterwards re-install
everything , regulate, tune, and voice again.
In the case of the Bösendorfers, they even have a special "Buosendorfer
strap", a leather grip they screw onto the key frame, to pull out the action
even easier.
If you tune a Bösendorfer, look for the screw holes on the front side of the
frame, and you know why those holes are there.
In the (Hamburg) Steinway factory, the voicing process takes at least 2
days, including first voicing and second voicing. The action goes in and out
countless times.
At the yamaha concert grand department, the process is almost the same. They
are more accurate though in their work plan i.e. they take a little less
time, while the result is more or less the same. A Yamaha concert grand
however is not a Steinway concert grand, but these days, the difference is
perhaps 10, 15 %, but not the price.....
With all three piano amkers mentioned, one should take extreme care not to
damage the front side of the piano with the key frame bolts while sliding
the action in and out. Especially Steinways and Yamahas are easy to damage.

OOR


>Dear List,
>
>Today, while doing a Yamaha C2 ServiceBond, and for the fun of it, I keep
>track of the number of times I pulled the action to fit and voice the
>hammers to the strings.  I counted at least 50 times.  Seems like I read
>somewhere a long time ago, some master voicer saying they pulled an action
>well over 200 times in one situation.  Any chance someone knows about this,
>or even has their own count?
>
>That's all.
>
>Keith McGavern
>kam544@earthlink.net
>Registered Piano Technician
>Oklahoma Chapter 731
>Piano Technicians Guild
>USA
>
>
>


Friendly greetings from,
Antares