1879 Steinway A

[Paul Chick]

Ric,

I too am just getting started on an A.  The hammers are very, very light.  I
couldn't find anyone that could duplicate the hammer weight.  Ronsen came
out the best, but still on the heavy side.  Adding weight to the hammer
meant some sort of change in the geometry.  Just to make sure....it was
suggested to me that I move from the 15.5 knuckle to the 17 knuckle to
accomodate the increased mass.  As soon as I saw that there was no
adjustment to the jack without altering the cushions I opted for new wippons
too.  I went with Renner wippens and shanks and flanges.  They match so
well.  Also, there are no leads in the keys.  Same with yours I assume.
Would it be justifiable to increase the mass in the hammer and then add lead
also if necessary?  Advantages?  Disadvantages?  Any thoughts......

Paul Chick Jr.
Plainview, MN
Minnesota-North Iowa Chapter 551

-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org]On
Behalf Of Richard Brekne
Sent: Sunday, September 19, 2004 5:25 AM
To: Newtonburg
Subject: 1879 Steinway A


Hey folks

Am just getting started changing a set of hammers and shanks on this old
A.  The new shanks place the shank center pin about 2 mm further away
from the hammer rail. This pushes the knuckles just a bit farther back
then I would like, and will force me to go through all whippens and
remove a bit of the jack return cushion in order to regulate the jacks.
The origional whippens are going to remain and there is no regulating
button for this position on those for those of you that arent familiar
with this older type of Steinway action. The origional centerpin to
knuckle was 15.5. So with the new shanks at 17, and the center itself
out about 2 mm... the knuckle itself is out about 3.5 mm more.  The jack
to knuckle position with the origional shanks and knuckles has the jack
well under the knuckle and past the back end of the core... so there is
room to make the adjustment to get a good position with the new shanks.

I'm looking for suggestions and thoughts as to what to do here. I could
go through and change all flanges so as to use the origionals I
suppose.. I checked one and the jack ended up just perfect under the
knuckle... but then I have to change all the flanges on the new set.

so whadaya whadaya ?

RicB
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