I heard from some technicians that none of these patents are important. Marketing is necessary to sell anything, but customers have, usually, a very thin grip on the realities they belie.Īs part its marking strategy, Steinway emphasises a lot on the following famous patents:ġ) Accelerated Action OctoPatent #1826848Ģ) Diaphragmatic Soundboard AugPatent #2051633 The 1098 model is well known for tuning difficulty, and the pinning torque is far higher than needed. The latest ones I have tuned had torque readings well over 160 in/lbs on numerous pins, (this is totally unnecessary for tuning stability and makes fine tuning a real chore). A customer that had their 1880 concert grand restored at the factory 15 years ago has just seen the block collapse and crush the action rails, and in 1982, our one year old D at Vanderbilt had to have the bottom three holes plugged and redrilled because the block had failed. Eight years ago the restoration department sent us a D with untunable pins in the bottom four notes and wildly inconsistent torque throughout. What a hassle, but it only happened once. I have, in the past, gotten half way through a stringing job when I decided that the block was too weird and undid everything and replaced it. I don't do it to save myself time, since my reputation rides on every one of these things and I give a life-time warranty,(my life, not theirs). If a new board is going in, a new block is going in, but when the board is acceptable, (they usually don't live past 80 years), and the block undamaged, it saves the customer thousands. I have many of these out in the clientele and it has proven to be a stable, long-term way to restring. I will also restring an older block if it is still intact by chasing the holes with an appropriately prepared drill bit and installing 4/0 pins. I tune numerous blocks that are 70-90 years old that are still viable. The earlier blocks, barring extreme climate exposure, were great. The same effect can be had by cutting 30% of the balance rail punching off and installing it so that the key rocks back onto the uncut portion. I have never seen a pianist that could distinguish an accelerated action from another without. I was also informed by Bill Garlick, while he was at Steinway, that key leading was also part of the acceleration patent, and that Steinway had stopped following that design years before,effectively violating their own patent. The later parts were drilled in the middle, obviating the geometry that created this "gain ratio".
It was important to install them properly aligned. The Steinway half-rounds were, to my knowledge, drilled with the hole slightly off set from center to accomplish this.
The effect is that the fulcrum (the contact point) moves towards the player (proximally) during its stroke, effectively losing leverage and gaining increased capstan speed during the rotation.
This works if the key is beginning its rotation centered on a point of the curve distal to its centerline. The accelerated action refers to the acceleration of the key ratio through its stroke by its rotating on a curved surface. ) The boards are very much a determinant in the sound of the piano. The soundboards were originally tapered by hand, with a plane, but are now machine sanded by a very large apparatus that makes them all the same,(there goes one factor in their much touted "individuality". The patents are far more important as marketing tools than they are for performance.