Something else I noticed while leveling keys the other day. The subject piano is from the 1970s. So piano is not so old as to have rotten felt under keys (I'm much more used to leveling keys on pianos that have not been leveled in 82 years - they are in for their first regulation). So I thought, cool, I don't need to change the felt. All keys were low, so just add appropriate center rail punchings to level. Great - easy, nice leveling. Go back and put center rail felt punching on top of new paper punchings. Keys now look like the badlands. The center rail makes a sharp downturn right in front of the center pin on the white keys. So the felt punchings were compressed on the rear 2/3 of the punching, but a bit fluffy (thicker/less compressed) on the front side. Put felt punchings in slightly different position and thar' ya go - a bad leveling job. But you know what? Now I am more experienced, because I got to take all the punchings off, start out with new paper punchings and new felt center rail punchings! I guess the rule here is to always check out the center rail punchings - when its been 10 or 20 years since keys were last leveled - or at least level two or three and try the punchings to see if they have been distorted by unequal compression. Livin' & Learnin' Terry Farrell
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