Reconditioning of Action & Keys

The first photo on the left is of an action taken from a Richard Lipp grand. Note the short hammer tails, arched repetition levers, the external steel butterfly spring and loop and the cushioned jack heels. The square, block-shaped knuckles are a somewhat unusual, even on Lipp instruments. They can also be found on some Bechsteins of this period, until the roller knuckle became standard issue. Despite lacking one very helpful feature (a grubscrew for regulating the repetition spring tension), the Lipp variant of the Herz-Erard repetition action is arguably one of the best ever designed and perhaps unsurpassed by any contemporary action design.
Wherever possible we try to conserve original actions and when applicable return them to original specification and touch weight, etc. Modern hammers are often too heavy for older actions unless the keys are re-weighted. However a proliferation of holes for the extra leads can seriously weaken keys.
Although occasionally not entirely successful in the past, the standard of hammer re-covering achieved today is generally extremely high. The same German factories also manufacture hammers to various patterns and with a choice of different woods, thus minimising the amount of re-leading required to achieve a desirable touch weight.
Hand covering techniques that are applicable to instruments of an earlier era have now been perfected by specialists in Europe. It is entirely wrong to apply modern hammer technology to earlier period pianos.