Steinway D specs

[A440A at aol.com]

Jon writes:
>>string heights from a D  
ends of each section:
8"          ~    8"
7 5/8     ~    7 3/4
7 5/8      ~   7 11/16
7 11/16  ~   7 5/8
7 5/8      ~   7 1/2
Hammer Center Height 5 9/16"
 
 > spec height 7 7/8 bass, 7 1/2 treble
with a 5 11/16 to 5 3/4" Hammer Center Height
I seen them as low as 5 5/8 but not 5 9/16 <<
<< No wonder it never regulated properly with stock hammers.
I will more than likely raise the stack, ya think?? >>

          It appears this was a combination of a low stack height and an 
excessively high plate that made it unregulatable.  I wonder if each of those two 
dimensions were allowed to pass at the factory because they were each within 
tolerance, though the latitude allowed was too much to accomodate their 
combination.  I see this as a constant example in the Steinway damper actions from 
about piano # 360,000 on up to 475,000.  
     Perhaps there was no one there to catch those cases where two tolerances 
were allowed their maximum variance in opposite directions and the result is 
an action that has no "sweet spot".  You can't lower the strings, so raising 
the stack, (or entire action) is the alternative, but is there some reason why 
the action is so low? 

Ed Foote RPT 
http://www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/index.html
www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html
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