S&S alignment

[Richard Brekne]

Ken Jankura wrote:

> I have encountered an unusual problem with a 1952 S&S 'M'. Simple
> regulation, right, but the alignment of hammer to wippen to capstan seems
> to be farther off as you go. The hammers were almost all striking too far
> to the left (you know, where you have to use the shift pedal to tune
> unisons). On my workbench I have simulated shimming out the frame stop
> block to correct this and by shifting it almost 1/8 inch (!) and spacing
> hammers as far as I can to the treble, they line up ok with my string mark
> gauge. The wippens are farther still to the right (you know, where the
> knuckle rests on one half of the rep lever only) and the capstans are
> already off center to the right, so correcting the wip spacing will make
> the capstan placement worse (you can look straight down on the action and
> see the edge of each capstan between the wips.  I'm not sure til I get back
> to the piano whether or not I am in trouble with the damper/key end felt
> interface by having shifted the action frame over. I am reluctant to
> relocate the action stack, though this seems to be what they should have
> done in the factory 40 years ago. I may be missing something here, but I am
> getting increasingly more frustrated as I try to get this piano lined up
> right. Has anyone run into this kind of situation before on a Steinway. Any
> words of advice, if not encouragement? (I should note the piano has all
> original parts, etc.)
> Ken Jankura RPT (Real Phrustrated Technician)
> Newburg, PA
>
>

Sounds to me like a great opportunity to completley re-assemble and fit an
action. Lots of work, but if you have never done it from the bottom up it is
quite the enlightening / learning experience. In the process, you can take the
time to re-pin the whole action (and probably you can do better then stock),
do some nice custom key weighting stuff, etc.etc.

If you have the budjet to do this.. then this is probably in the end the
easiest way, and the route that will give the best result.

Richard Brekne
I.C.P.T.G.  N.T.P.F.
Bergen, Norway