key levelling -- crown?

[Ron Nossaman]

>I'm surprised at you, Ron. Surely you've checked keybed crown in each of
>those S&S pianos you've put new soundboards in. Haven't you? You haven't!
>Why shame, shame, shame. How do you know the degradation you've been blaming
>on the soundboard wasn't really the fault of the collapsed keybed?

Oh but I have, at least indirectly. I have without fail pounded every
single crowned keybed that has ever passed across my threshold with my fist
and each and every one has emitted an appropriate "dunk" sound indicating
to me that the keybed was entirely and adequately functional regardless of
the presence or absence of such an arbitrary standard as measurable crown.
Performance under action load is, after all, what really counts here. I
hear that some techs insist that if a piano in need of being rebuilt, the
keybed is undoubtedly shot too and must also be replaced. I have not found
this to be the case, and attitudes such as this disturb me greatly. The
keybed is the soul of the instrument, and they not only don't deteriorate,
but actually get better with age, like the keybeds in violins. Rare indeed
is the piano in which the keybed is not at least as good as new, regardless
of age, and it's due time that this myth of keybed aging and deterioration
is put to rest for all time. I offer as evidence to this inarguable fact,
my personal observation and lack of any body of documentation contrary to
the effect that I know of no instance where the keybed of any piano has
failed in it's primary application of keeping the action off of the floor.
Consequently, I can only conclude that there are a number of unscrupulous
practitioners of the piano rebuilding art who are perpetrating an
outrageous fraud on their trusting and naive clientele by selling them
wholly unnecessary and tragically destructive keybed replacements. I
suppose that in some instances, it will become inescapably necessary to
replace a keybed that has been maimed by an unfortunate accident or an
inept attempt at repair of adjustment by an unqualified practitioner. In
such instances, it is imperative that the oldest wood in the area be
located, and procured by whatever means necessary to serve the higher good
of restoring the defiled keybed to it's former and rightful glory. This
won't, of course, be entirely possible, since the original designer, patent
holder, and builder of the original keybed was possessed of a supernatural
knowledge and understanding to which we can never hope to aspire.     

Ron N