Steinway key humping

[Cy Shuster]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Carl Meyer" <cmpiano@comcast.net>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Sunday, October 19, 2003 7:57 PM
Subject: Steinway key humping


> I recall when I first heard that, I was impressed with that concept.  I
have
> been now convinced that to misadjust to compensate for wear is not a
logical
> engineering decision.

Thank you, Carl.  It makes no engineering sense to me, either.  Why not
adjust letoff closer in the middle to adjust for hammer felt wear, etc. etc.
etc.?

Is it the actual keybed that's crowned in Steinways?  Doesn't that add
friction to una corda shifting, or is it an arc of a circle and stay in
contact the whole way during a shift?

And if you do put a 2mm crown in the center, over how many keys do you
spread it out: an octave centered on middle C, perhaps?  Two octaves?

--Cy Shuster--
Rochester, MN