Hello rebuilders and others who may be interested.
I had a chance to install and retrofit a new WNG back action to a 1950's SSL recently and thought that I would pass along my impression of the new parts. Work took place at Fox and Dearing Piano Shop - thanks for the space and advice. It has all of the bells and whistles anyone could want.
For anyone that likes to have the lift lever and tray pivot on the same plane and would modify a new replacement kit to make it happen, this property is built into the WNG kit.
It has spoons as well as capstans. The capstans are easily accessable and adjustable using a drop screw type tool and the sostenuto tabs have been resized to make access easy.
Lever return springs are not necessary but may be on a larger piano. If used, they also have easily accessable adjustment screws and they are mounted to the lever, not the tray so when the dampers come to rest on the strings, there is no pull on the tray - which by itself is massive enough that there is no need for a tray return spring. The all aluminum tray and rail are separate and connected with up to 5 flanges if needed and the friction is similar to a lift lever flange. There are no pivot pin mounting block issues to deal with. The lift lever rail mounts directly to the belly rail.
Got to hand it to Bruce Clark for his innovative designs. Hope the photos helps the explaination. I will post more if anyone wants.
[image]http://www.pianoworld.com/Uploads/files/onthesameplane.JPG
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Lets see more pictures. I like the Renner kits but I also like to see what others are doing.

Is this something you have to contact WNG about, I don't see it on thier website - unless I missed it, which seems to be happening more and more lately..

Although I haven't used them yet, these new WNG components seem to be totally awesome. I'm tempted to try them all in my next rebuild.

I think that I might have been one of the first to install one.
WNG kind of used me as a beta tester.
Keep looking on thier web site and they should be marketing them soon.
I knew someone would ask for more pics. Give me a bit of time and I will post more.

[image]http://www.pianoworld.com/Uploads/files/distancetosostwng.jpg
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For those that retrofit Steinways and have found interference with the sostenuto tab, rod and back checks, this tab gives about 2mm more clearance than the Renner or Tokiwa kits.
[image]http://www.pianoworld.com/Uploads/files/cutoutformonkey.jpg
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No other way around cutting out a slot for monkey clearance.
[image]http://www.pianoworld.com/Uploads/files/adjustmentjigs.jpg
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Some early prototype positioning jigs - there were a few modifications on this and Bruce Clark has a foolproof jig design - our final was just about a copy of his.
[image]http://www.pianoworld.com/Uploads/files/locatingtrayflange.jpg[image/]
A shot of locating the tray flange screw holes.
I will note that all pinning was consistent, no work required here - and when we installed the levers, the lever key-end alignment was about 85% correct - very little traveling required.
All screws are machine type and require tapping for threads. We did this with a hand drill and set it to torque out at the lowest setting - nothing stripped and it only took about 1 hour. We did need to add some wax to the tap for lube - also we needed to flag it so it did not bottom out on the other side of the tray/lever.