RE: Steve Greatrex's Post
RE: Brian Thornton's Post

Hello Steve, and everyone else on the MMD,

This is not intended to start a discussion of how "great" or "poor" a
cross valve plate performs, but only what I did in a recent restoration,
when I wanted to change to a round hole stainless valve plate. Also to
let you know that a 7/16th Stainless plate is available from Bob
Streicher.

I read the posting this morning from Brian Thornton of Short Mountain
Music Works about the round valve plates never working.  Well, he is
right that if you use the 1/2 plate as made by Bob Streicher, you will
have problems with the poor repetition and failing notes at the soft
levels.  This is because the one half inch round hole has a much larger
area that did the cross valve plate, and required more power from the
pouch to lift from the vacuum.  Some restorers have corrected this
problem by making the pouch slightly larger and deeper.  I do not advise
any change that is not reversible.

In the 1920 Steinway XR which I finished earlier this year, I also had
the cross valve plates.  Many hours were spent around this problem.  I
had ordered the one half inch plates from Bob Streicher, and we had
discussed the possibility of problems. The 1/2 inch stainless plate is
actually a bit larger that 1/2 inch.  The owner of the piano came down
for a visit to see the work, and we were discussing the problem. His
engineering mind started to smoke, and in just a few minutes, his
question to me was:

"Why did they not make the round hole replacement plate the exact same
area as the cross valve plate?"

The next day I called Bob Streicher and had a custom set of  stainless
plates made with a 7/16th hole.  This is about 3 or 4 percent larger
than the cross valve.

Did they work?  Perfect!  You can turn the speed of the piano to the
max., and the fast notes still repeat perfectly.  In fact, when I talked
to Bob earlier this week, he had just finished changing the inner valve
plate in a stack that he had restored. He reported that it corrected all
of his problems.

Bob Streicher now sells the 7/16th stainless valve plate and recommends
it's use for the inner valve plate.  The 1/2 inch plate is still fine
for the outer valve plate.

This was my solution, and from testing and actual use, I think it is a
good solution.

If anyone is interested in hearing a mp3 file of the completed piano,
they can go to:

    http://www.pebworths.com/SCA/mp3/TICO.mp3

(This is an Artcraft Arrangement by Douglas Henderson)

Al

Al Pebworth
Pebworth's Player Piano Center
Home of "Yesterday's Music"
http://www.pebworths.com/