Hello list,
I am working on rebuilding a Steinway model H from 1893 (54" upright, with a laminated, bent rim inside the back frame.) I'm trying to determine boring distance as well as bore angles. The parts that came with the piano when I picked it up were mostly original, it seems, with hammers (Steinway) replaced at some point along its path. I did pull the plate and scrape the board and epoxy coat it (following a Del Fandrich article,) epoxied the original bridge cap, and re-drilled for new bridge pins. Also, the pin block (not glued to the back structure except at either end, but supported and "floating" on dowels, vertically,) was epoxy-consolidated and drilled (following a Ken Eschete article.) Since I am using the original bridge cap, I had to grind the high treble nut down a bit in order to get positive down bearing there.
In previous action rebuilds, I have used the WNG strike gauge (used to locate the strike point for hammers 72 and 88,) and had good success with that. My question now is how to locate the strike point for hammer 1? There are no dampers yet installed. The hammers currently on the piano, in the bass (1,26) have a difference of more than 2 mm from top of butt to top of hammer moulding, and a bore distance difference of more than 1 mm, which leaves me thinking that I cannot trust those to use as a guide, in addition to the plate changing position. Perhaps, because the original shanks were maintained, it was just sloppy work, or intentional, I can't really know.
One other question- is there a method to determine the bore angles based on string angles? Usually I would have sent samples for hammer duplication, but in this case I'm quite wary of doing that.
Thanks in advance for any help.
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Joe Wiencek
New York NY
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