Are Steinway player actions different from straight grand actions?

In yesterday's MMD 010723, L. Douglas Henderson wrote about his
perceived differences between Steinway grand piano actions that were
players and those that were regular pianos.  Mr. Henderson says that
Aeolian "mis-aligned" the actions, that the keys are not "to
regulation", and that the "key dip or touch which isn't the same as
a non-player version of the S&S grand piano."

While I have great respect for Mr. Henderson's considerable
intelligence and musical talent, I really must ask him to elaborate
on these accusations.  In fact, I invite anybody to explain to me why
a player action should be any different from a regular action.

Admittedly, the player's keys are about 6" longer than on the regular
action, but what difference does that make?  The key dip can be
regulated to be the same, and distribution of the lead key weights can
make the feel of the keys the same.  Are we to understand that Steinway
was so anxious to get a player action into their pianos that they would
make sub-standard pianos that carried the Steinway name?

And how about Steinway's Hamburg factory?  They made Steinway Welte
actions where the keys were extended about 12" -- twice the distance
that Aeolian required.  Are these pianos twice as bad as a Duo-Art?  If
anybody out there thinks that extending the keys makes for an inferior
action, I would like them to look at the keys of _all_ 9-foot Model D
concert grands, unquestionably the standard of excellence in all
concert halls for over 130 years.  The bass keys are about 6" longer
than normal keys, while the treble keys in the "D" are close to normal
length.  Why don't these keys have a different dip or touch?  Or do
they?

I will agree with Mr. Henderson that having to remove the player action
is a real pain in the neck, but it is preferable to having a stupid
drawer preventing someone from playing manually.  I also want to point
out that the ebony wood glued on the black keys on Steinway players
varies in length: On models up to 1925, the ebony is between 1/8" and
1/4" shorter.  Around 1925, when the players were re-designed, Steinway
allowed the ebony to be cut still shorter.  Apparently, some sort of
objections were raised, and I believe that shortly thereafter, some of
that length was restored, so it would appear that there are at least
four different lengths of ebonies in the players.

I measured the ebony length in a straight Model L grand to be 3-5/8".
My 1913 foot-pumper 'O' has 3-4/8".  A 1925 Duo-Art L (with the early
88-note stack) has a length of about 3-3/8".  I believe the 80-note
stack models from 1925 and 1926 have a length shorter yet, but later
years increase it somewhat.  (I do not have these models in my house,
but I will measure the keys in my friend's showroom, and write in those
measurements.)  Since I find it hard to imagine people playing the
sharps by hitting the rear of the ebony, near the fallboard, I do not
consider this to be a significant difference in the two types of
actions.

I hope that many people will contribute to this discussion, and perhaps
we can answer this question once and for all.

Randolph Herr

 [ See the article by Craig Brougher in this issue, "Servicing and
 [ Regulating Duo-Art Grand Pianos", for a description of the extra
 [ damper springs added in Steinway grand player pianos.  I don't know
 [ if these springs (and the hammer lift rail in some pianos) were
 [ modifications installed by Steinway or by the Aeolian assembly shop.
 [
 [ The special case and keyboard were specified by Aeolian especially
 [ to receive the Duo-Art player.  I surmise that, when a little more
 [ depth was needed for the spool box assembly, Aeolian simply
 [ shortened the keytops so the spool box cover and key cover could
 [ be moved forward.
 [
 [ Final regulation of the piano action and the touch weight was
 [ probably the responsibility of Aeolian, since the Duo-Art piano
 [ was sold by Aeolian, not Steinway, dealers.  -- Robbie