List, I am regulating a 1885 Steinway A. At some point in its recent history the hammers and shanks were replaced, but it was before the client purchased the piano. As I got into the regulation I found I had to move the let off buttons to their highest position in order to get the right amount of let off. The top of the buttons were almost touching the let off rail. However, on ten adjacent notes in the treble this was not true, and I achieved good let off with the let off button in the middle of its adjustment range. It took me a while to figure this out, but I finally realized that although all 88 shanks were new, those ten that regulated normally had different shanks with knuckles 1mm closer to the flange pin. Additionally the 10 different shanks give those notes a different action ratio and a higher downweight. The action ration on the keys with the 78 matching shanks is 5.4. On the 10 notes with the closer knuckle, the action ration is 6.0, and the downweights are about 8 grams higher. There are two problems I'd like to solve. First, it bothers me that the let off buttons are sitting so high on 78 of the notes. It's not an issue right now, but could be later on if anyone ever wants to replace the left-off buttons with new ones. Thicker let-off buttons would not regulate. The second problem is that on the 10 different shanks I need to reduce the action ration and downweight to match the other 78. If I change the 10 odd shanks to match the other 78, I would have consistent action ratio and downweight, but all let-off buttons would be at the extreme of their adjustment range. If I change the 78 shanks to match the odd 10, the let-off button position would be solved, but the downweight would be too high. I would greatly appreciate any solutions, thoughts or advice. David Weiss
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