Thank you, Cheryl. I have this feeling that pianos are intrinsically interesting, but I know I'm biased.

Thank you, Linda, and thanks also for your subscription! My goal is to produce new content every two weeks.

Thanks Daniel! I hope to have it playable in 2-3 weeks, then refined from there.

Hi Jack, I’m starting work on the follow up video and I have pics/footage taking along the way. But as a preview I’m mostly quite happy with the action. It really gets out of the way and allows for music making. The wood removal went really smoothly but was quite nerve racking as I was getting ready to send the mounting rail through my table saw. I was glad it came out perfect on the first run. To be continued...

@@insidepianos I look forward to the follow up video!

It’s now all filmed. I just need to clear my schedule enough to do the editing. That’s been harder to do than I hoped.

Hey Ted, thanks for drawing my attn to Kawai's use of composite materials. I enjoyed poking around their current literature. For the traditionally wooden parts of the repetition (whippen) it's really hard to argue with the merits of carbon fiber, so kudos to them! I re-read WNG's website in which lacks mention of the acoustic properties of the hammer shank, eg. reassurance that their parts mimic the acoustics of wood. Though I've not worked w a Teflon-era Steinway action, I'm told there was a percussive element to the sound not found with cloth bushings. In other words, the bushing may be more of a tonal concern than the shank given the shock absorption of a cloth bushing. So, Kawai might be doing the right thing--lightweight, super-responsive whippen paired w acoustically ideally-acoustic shank (whether that's thanks to the wood or the bushing or both). It's interesting to note that WNG launched their line (in the early aughts) with *cloth* bushings. They elected to upgrade(?) their parts with hard bushings later with their goal presumably remaining to produce the world's most advanced, best performing, and long-lasting piano parts. I wonder if Kawai along with WNG in the early days were not trying to avoid the *problem* of Steinway Teflon but rather the *problematic PR* of Steinway Teflon. In other words, these "hard bushings" appear to be trouble free when housed within composite material but pianists and technicians tend to form a cross with their hands and back slowly away when hearing mention of such things. I'm sure this is why WNG describes their bushing ("hard") and doesn't name the material. I'm leaning towards the conclusion that the ideal whippen is a composite one with "hard" bushings and that WNG wouldn't have braved the potential associations w Steinway's infamous era if they didn't present some serious benefits. This is what I'm hoping as regards hammer shanks: I'm hoping that the tonal benefit of having properly and consistently-rigid composite shanks outweighs any departure from the ideal caused by foregoing wood and cloth. Flexing of wooden shanks causes two problems: loss of power as well as the hammer tip straying from the best strike point during hard blows. Additionally, wooden shanks can warp and lose alignment to the strings. Include also the inconsistency from note to note caused by variation in rigidity. The maintenance problems with wood and cloth are no fun either. I've had to repin my shanks so many times to try to keep the touch weight consistent and to avoid double striking. WNG shanks are reported to nearly eliminate that issue. And that's good for the consumer too! I've mounted the whippens and shanks and hope to hang the hammers starting tomorrow. I can't wait to get a feel for these parts myself and go beyond the theoretical. You can be sure I'll produce a video when this journey is done!

So the issue with the steinway hard bushing was the difference in material between the wood and the bushing. So what would happen is that the wood would change shape and the bushing wouldn't. A test has been done with the hard bushings when basicly put on a player system set to run the parts at 4 blows per second and it was run for about 8 months. Most other parts were falling appart and the hammers were mashed flat. however with the WNG parts the hammers have groves that went all the way down to the core of the hammer. And the tension on the WNG parts were way too low. But after a repining they were good to go again. Also There is no benefit to flex in the hammer shank. In fact this often leads to the hammer going off of the strike line. But its a common myth in the piano world so they make some of the shanks to be more flexible to accurately represent wood shanks. The big thing is consistency though. Wood just isn't consistent due to its nature as a material. My mentor talked to me about a story about a technician who was having a voicing problem with a petrov. He replaced the shanks with the composite ones and the voicing problems went away. What was happening was the parts used in that piano were not consistent. I suspect they used cheaper hammer shanks, but I cannot say for sure. Even tests with renner parts which are the best in terms of consistency as far as good goes have a lot of variance. Usually not to the extent that it causes voicing problems like the petrov As far as pinning goes they are supposed to provide a specific gram resistance. The nature of felt and hard bushings are different so a gram gage is needed for this to work and due to the material of the bushing you actually need a bit more resistance than you would with a felt bushing. Actually when the resistance is too low you will get some clicks. you can get a repining kit if need be with instructions for what the resistances are, but you cannot use regular pins. They are actually made from needle bearings and if you find a WNG action with noise its likely a pin that is a bit too loose. This will happen over time as with any action. As far as the design of the wippen shape its designed to work on most pianos and was designed that way for strength and weight. And weight does make a difference. Obviously there are oddball pianos out there where something may be outside of the norm. But not much that can be done about that. edit: typo.

David Sukonick Thanks for weighing in, no pun intended. I have had my trials with these parts (that I hope to detail in a follow up to this initial video). But you clearly have had a nightmare. In the end, I’m VERY impressed and happy with the action-it’s one of the best I’ve ever experienced-but it took a while and some extra work I know I could have avoided with wooden parts. In terms of wippen noise, the only thing I encountered was the shank coming into contact w the repetition lever height adjust screw. I fixed that by holding the pad w some pliers and driving the screw in deeper. I’m wondering if that’s what you’re dealing with. I think people have a range of experience w these WNG parts that depends somewhat on the type of piano you’re dealing with. Sorry to hear you were at the far end of that spectrum. Very frustrating, I know.

@@insidepianos Thank you for your reply. My issues were on a new CC-94. It came with an incredibly heavy action and very annoying bright sound. I had a nationally renown technician do some work on it and every time he touched it, it became worse. After several attempts he threw up his hands and said "I'm stumped, I give up." He is on the list of technicians trained to work this action. He lowered the key weight from 60 down to 40 but this made the piano infinitely more difficult to play. The inertia pressure when playing with speed is off the chart. The keys have so much lead in them on both sides that it is crazy. With the triple bouncing of the keys they would be still moving after playing an entire scale. I have a Shigeru but it is a hybrid with the hammers and shanks made out of wood. I think this was more cost savings disguised as innovation. Some parts like the jack are much easier to replicate with plastic than to make quality ones with wood. A renown rebuilder, after much inspection and deliberation, suggested that it would be best to replace with a completely wood Renner action.

​@@shvartze Yikes that sounds like a problem. There are a few that it could be. As far as feel, that sounds to me like an action geometry problem. This can be fixed, but it requires a technician schooled in action geometry. Something that many never touch. The parts do cost about the same and actually require a bit more work on some fronts to get it to work right. The parts are actually lighter than wooden parts which should not cause more weight. Of course most of the weight is how everything is put together and designed. If a piano had a problem with geometry before, putting on new parts with the same geometry will result in the same problem. Alternatively if the action was ordered wrong with the nuckel or heels in the wrong place or the wrong jack angle you are also going to have changed action geometry and cause issues. As far as noise usually its best to check how hard the nuckels are and check the pinning. When the pinning on the composite actions are too low they may click. And there was a period a few years back where the nuckels were too hard causing clicking. But if you are having weight issues then something was not done correctly and the factory should have hopefully helped you fix the problem; especially if it was brand new. As far as manufacturing costs its roughly the same. The big cost factor is actually the hard bushing and the shanks being made of carbon fiber along with labor to ensure the parts are in good shape. I mean the tolerances with the hard bushing are to the point where needle bearings are used and you need a crazy accurate drilling mechanism. Meaning crazy high end chucks and crazy precise bits. Essentially wooden and composite parts have costs in different places.

@@zackeryhardy9504 I had the problem solved and the piano is incredible now. It is super powerful and as easy to play on the fingers as a spinet. It may be one of the most unusual pianos in the world now. How? I had the entire action replaced. The brilliant Gennady Korolev saved this piano. I have videos of the entire process and what it looked like to start. No one could have fixed this action! There was no possible way to remove the horrible inertia issue. Each key had eight leads in it. It is almost impossible to believe but I have the proof. The first 'renowned' (yes, you would know him) technician that was also authorized as an expert on the WNG composite action failed miserably. He attempted to correct this nightmare by removing a single weight and moving all of the capstans. Are you kidding me? On a new concert grand? The hammers were not even glued correctly. On top of that the shaft is heavy. Yes it is carbon fiber but there is a shaft of steel inside of it so what is the point? Mason Hamlin refused to address this nightmare or even suggest a person to deal with it. I was willing to pay any expert (and I did unfortunately). I have read and heard that they have now changed the geometry of their concert grand. Why? For volume? That would be absurd since it has probably has the greatest sound production if not very close. For clarity? The clarity of a Mason Hamlin is legendary and unlike many large pianos that only project to the side give the performer great feedback. They had to rework the piano because it sucks to play and everyone I talked to says they get blown off if they list an issue!

@@shvartze Wow. Yea that sounds horrible. 8 leads is unaccrptable. I haven't dealt with the cc's much, but certainly not the case with the vx. I know the design that was being used before the burgetts bought it had some issues. But I haven't seen enough of them to really comment. Perhapse theu were still using the old design. But I cannot say for sure. Definately seems like a Geometry problem and likely one that couldn't be fixed without a full rebuild. Glad to hear you got it fixed.

I saw that video recently too. It makes me want to check my sample box and my extras from that project to see if the spring is stable or not. I’ll try to report back. I didn’t have any issues with clicking or malfunctioning of any type on the Baldwin. WNG composite parts have not been around for a super long time. And I know the current version is different in several ways than the initial release. I would not be surprised to learn that they took care of this spring issue. Good on Chris Chernobieff for showing a fix for when they have shifting springs.