Drop (was Journal Articles)

[Jorgensen, Michael L]

List,
    I have used drop to significantly alter the touch in a quick and easy way.  Perfect sychronized letoff and drop creates a snappy responsive feel, the down side being it can be harder to control.  Shallow drop creates a very light touch, in danger of bobbling, that is even harder to control.  Deeper drop makes the action feel heavier and mushier but easier to control.  A micro change in drop of 1/4 turn significantly alters it.    So after deciding the direction you want, simply run through the entire action, regulating drop rythmically in about five minutes using the "Yamaha bounce test".  Slowly push down three or four notes together running up and down the scale to watch for even drop and bounce.  If in general I feel the piano needs more drop, then I search for shanks which drop a bit less than the others and then give those 1/8 to 1/4 turn down depending on my perception of it.   Even if only 1/3 of the notes get a change in drop, the perception of the whole action will change, and it is always getting more even.  Jack Krefting said something like "It may play like a truck, but eveness of response is what pianists like", a quote I've lived by.  IMHO there is room for a little bit of subjectivity in the amount of drop within a very narrow parameter.
Any thoughts?
-Mike Jorgensen.
> ----------
> From: 	caut-bounces@ptg.org on behalf of Mark Cramer
> Reply To: 	College and University Technicians
> Sent: 	Tuesday, June 1, 2004 10:31 AM
> To: 	College and University Technicians
> 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
> 
> 
> 
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