S&S alignment

[John Dewey]

If all the parts are out of line the same amount you are probably on he
right track. However if all but one section are out of line someone may have
changed a flange rail. For a Steinway "D" a new standard prebored rail has
35mm more space between note 20 and 21 than a turn of the century "D". A
truly horrible discovery to make at 9:00 pm when the customer has sent
prebored rails and wants his stack back yesterday and you have no unbored
rails in stock. If you find you need to redrill the rails to get the correct
position you may want to consider replacing the the rail or at least the
dowel.

John Dewey


-----Original Message-----
From: Ken Jankura <kenrpt@mail.cvn.net>
To: pianotech@ptg.org <pianotech@ptg.org>
Date: Saturday, August 28, 1999 4:08 PM
Subject: S&S alignment


>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
>
>
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