Key Leveling 

Hi, David - Lots of good stuff there. Key height has to respect case parts and key pins, so the initial calculation should be assessed in the piano. Yes, for a Steinway, where the ends of the frontrail are brought down to the keybed by the cheekblocks, they should be doing their job when setting up the Keysteps. A stable connection is needed for them to be accurate. The Custom Keybed does hold them down, but a workaround can work fine on the bench if that is where you want to do the leveling (which I do). I bed and sample in the piano such that my setup on the bench, with or without the fancy tool, is accurate, and for a Steinway, gentle clamping of the guide pins is needed. I think it is possible for clamping to effect the balancerail, but if it does, the bedding should be checked. I do square obvious offenders right away, but when the keys are very far below level, the rest are better done after the first pass. I square the keys to the straightedge I am using. 1/32" crown over 4' is so small that it is mostly for a good tactile result. When done, I want the keys to feel level to the player. I don't think a key pounder is necessary. I manually push all the air out of punchings, cloth, and felt so results will be stable.