of Cristofori's. Others produced quite different actions, often simpler and less effective ones. In (roughly) the 1770s, the Augsburg builder Johann Andreas Stein developed an entirely new action in which the orientation of the hammer was reversed, with the hammer head closer to the player. This "Viennese" action was widely used by makers in Vienna, and was the action of pianos played by Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. It survived in Viennese pianos almost to the end of the 19th century.

The modern grand action is a distant descendent of Cristofori's original. It emerged from the work in the 1770s of Americus Backers, which established the normal action for English pianos. In the 19th century, the English action was further modified by French builders, notably in the invention of therepetition lever, which facilitated rapidly repeating notes. Perhaps the best-known English piano action of the nineteenth century is the Brooks action of 1810. One of the most well-known French piano actions was created by Jean Schwander in 1844 (the Schwander action is still used in Bechstein pianos) and improved upon by his son-in-law Josef Herrburger. At the turn of the century, Schwander-Herrburger merged with Brooks, giving us the Herrburger-Brooks piano action, which can be seen as the definitive piano action of the twentieth century.

Throughout the history of the action, it tended to become heavier and sturdier, in response to the increasing size, weight, and robustness of the instrument in general.

The action mechanism of a key, consist of the key itself and all its appurtenances. A key appurtenances include