Mark: This begs the question of whether a solid "bump" is a good thing. As a pianist (and I'm not much of a pianist) I've never liked to notice where let-off begins. The less impediment to a smooth keystroke the better to me. On some pianos I have left let-off a little generous and drop just a tad high to reduce the bump. While ultra close let-off allows a pianist to play ppppp without the risk of a note's skipping, sometimes when playing that lightly the key doesn't complete the stroke because it stops at the "bump". With just a little more generous let-off and drop coming ever so slightly later the smoother keystroke actually allows you to play even softer. Or am I just kidding myself? dave __________________________________________ David M. Porritt, RPT Meadows School of the Arts Southern Methodist University Dallas, TX 75275 ----- Original message ----------------------------------------> From: Mark Cramer <Cramer@BrandonU.CA> To: College and University Technicians <caut@ptg.org> Received: Tue, 01 Jun 2004 09:31:59 -0500 Subject: RE: Drop (was Journal Articles) >Thanks Fred, >if I may continue on the subject of drop for a moment, from experience, does >the drop setting vary with climate as let-off does? >Or, are the visible disparities (between let-off and drop distance) >generally due to: >1.) initial setting error (as Fred demonstrates) >2.) the seasonal movement of let-off in relationship to a (typically stable) >drop setting. >On lesser used instruments, I've allowed myself the lazy habit of setting >drop a little wide (confession is apparently good for the soul) so that >let-off settings could "float" to the wide side safely over summer. >Good idea, or misguided? >Synchronicity: >At Steinway, we were shown a different (to me anyhow) approach to >synchronizing let-off and drop: >With the action reversed, we adjusted the "jack-position screw" (rather than >the drop screw), until let-off and drop contacts were sync'd and you could >feel that solid "bump." >It works quite nicely, however, one astute colleague suggests that depending >"where" the jack (alignment) ended up, increased friction might offset any >benefits gained by this manner of synchronization. >Any thoughts, s.v.p? >Mark Cramer, >Brandon University >> Can anyone shed light on this for me, otherwise I carry on happily as >> above. >Hi Mark, > I've seen that quite a bit myself. My guess is that, as drop must be done >out of the action cavity, they didn't match the keydip very well. And >regulated drop to where the hammer rose after aftertouch (which became >excess due to increased keydip - due to bench not matching keybed). Similar >sort of thing happens often with check. Anyway, it's as good a guess as >any. I hate the feel - spongy letoff due to dropscrew contacting before >letoff button. > Hyper springs? Well, who knows what has happened to center friction since >whoever regulated it last. But I suppose your theory could be correct. Some >people may think they need more spring than necessary, and then crank down >the drop screw to avoid double strikes. Not a good thing. >Regards, >Fred >_______________________________________________ >caut list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives >_______________________________________________ >caut list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC