Steinway parts - whippen heel

[Roger Jolly]

At 11:18 AM 5/12/02 -0700, you wrote:
>Whichever, the point was that it didn't quite fit correctly whereas another
>manufacturer's parts might have.
>
>David Love
>
Hi David,
              A personal observation.  When mix and match parts seem to be
in the equation, thats when the real geometry problems raises it's ugly
head.  I have found several Steinway's, of the teflon era, that have had
Renner hammers and shanks replaced, with the original wippens retained. In
each case the results have been disasterous. 
 When ever I have replaced both wips and shanks with a single
manufacturer's products, the out come has been satisfactory.
Our proceedure is as follows.

1. Refurbish, and rebush the keys and key bed.Get the friction even in this
area.
2. Do a touch weight analysis, on the old action parts.
3. Do sample touch weight analysis with, American, Japanese, and German parts.
Using sample hammers of the type I will be ordering,at 4 points across the
scale.

This method makes the outcome very predictable, with minimum lead weighting
changes.  Unless I have felt the front weight is tooooooooo high to start
with.
It's not unusual to be able to remove some lead on the teflon era actions.
If you spot 6 leads per key in the lower bass, you have an opportunity to
dramatically improve the action with careful parts selection.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Regards Roger
Roger Jolly
Balwin Yamaha Piano Centres.
Saskatoon/Regina.
Canada.