There has been a mystery defining the term “German Action” because the “German Action” is always mixed together with the “Viennese Action”. It is in fact referring to the same thing. The term “German Action” was first used to refer to the actions made by Stein’s pianos. Until the twentieth century, Prellmechanik used the term “Viennese Action” instead of the so-called “German Action” to represent Stein’s action. Therefore confusion over the term arose. On the other hand, some scholars tried to look for the first action inventor in Vienna in order to solve the difficulty. Unfortunately, they failed to find enough substantial evidences to solve their concerns. Nevertheless, what we can believe is that, the “Viennese Action” was more or less confined to makers in Vienna itself, whereas the pianos from Vienna had an action which was altogether different form the English mechanism. ”Explanation on this action’s mechanism:
The construction of the “German or Viennese Action” is straightforward. There is no intermediate lever or check head installed. The damper control is installed into the pianoforte body and the hammer‟s movement is reliant up on the kapsel (pivot). As the kapsel is positioned a little bit away from the key, when the key is depressed, the kapsel will only turn slightly, just enough for the hammer to hit the strings. The rise is about 1mm from the strings. This advantage prevents the hammer from blocking or double striking. In addition, because of short distance of the hammer rising, there is no lost motion. This gives the pianists a light and sensitive touch. This is the favourite of the greatest composers, including Haydn and Mozart.
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