[CAUT] Erard

[wimblees at aol.com]

Thanks, Israel and Ed, for all the information about the Erard. Now I 
can see why a piano tuner, who might not be familiar with the older 
Erard, is having trouble with the instrument. I will send all f your 
posts to this gentleman in Italy. I have already suggested he contact a 
local dealer, or even the tuner for the symphony or opera.

Wim

-----Original Message-----
From: A440A at aol.com
To: caut at ptg.org
Sent: Wed, 31 May 2006 07:14:56 EDT
Subject: Re: [CAUT] Erard

Greetings,

Inre regulation of an Erard, I wrote:
<< The hammers must not lie on the rest rail, nor be
>more than 5
>mm above it. This is your hammer range.

Israel replies:
>>Not on an old Erard, Ed. You better maximize the strike distance if
you expect to be able to get any kind of a sforzando or forte out of
that piano. It's a low tension scale - weak attack, long, rich,
beautiful decay. That's why they designed it with a very long strike
distance (up to 2 1/8") - you really do need the hammer momentum...<<

Agreed, that is why I wrote what I did. It is a method for optimizing. 
I
doubt there will be any acoustic difference between hammers that are 
laying on
the rests and ones that are 2 mm above them. However, there can be 
profound
differences in how the instrument regulates. At no time did I suggest
minimizing the blow distance, but, rather, where the hammer must be in 
order to
properly regulate.

Again I wrote:
> if you want to reduce the aftertouch to
>a minumum, (which will be the fastest action), lower your hammers or 
raise
>your keydip, or a little of both. You may then want to set your
>let-off to just
>below the lower excursion limit of the string when the string has been 
struck
>as firmly as the performer is likely to play it.

Israel responds:
>>Not on an old Erard. Too risky. You need a large safety factor. That
all-wood action is not so rigid that you can do hair-trigger 
regulations.

When I say reducing the aftertouch to a minimum, I am not suggesting
any particular dimension, simply an approach which takes the particular 
action
into consideration. It is often the case with the older pianos that the 
key
travel is limited by case construction, and given the wear in the 
knuckles and
hammers, something must be compromised. Sometimes, if there is to be 
any
aftertouch, at all, the hammers might have to be higher than optimum 
for a
sforzando
or forte response. That is a cost of aging.
I have only regulated two of these Erards, and there was no problem 
with s
etting let-off to these specifications. One of them was used by a 
Chopin
fanatic, who likes to play hard. We have had no problems.

> Springs should be as strong as
>possible without being felt in the key upon hammer release.

>>That's 120 year old springs we are talking about - not much zing
left... I doubt you'll be able to make the key "kick". Sometimes you
are lucky to get any kind of lift on the hammer at all - I've had to
settle for the hammer not dropping back... <<

Yes, "as strong as possible" might mean simply holding the hammer in
place, but that wasn't the case I had to deal with. The actions worked 
fine
with a slow gradual rise to the spring. One of them had very little 
hammer
left, and there was certainly a feeling in the key when they were 
released when
the springs were too strong. The age of a spring doesn't necessarily 
reduce its

capacity to "spring". It may break, but if it is intact, I have always 
been
able to strengthen them sufficiently to raise the hammers.

>>In short, you can take half the modern action regulation "optimizing"
assumptions that you are used to, throw them in the toilet and then
try and figure out how to make the damned thing work. <<

My suggestions gave only a self-defining approach to setting any action
dimensions to a workable level of consistency and response. That is why 
I used
words like "as possible" instead of giving a specific distance. An 
Erard
action, even with the wooden brackets, is capable of being regulated to 
a very
high level of consistency, it just takes more work than a modern 
action.
Regards,

Ed Foote RPT
http://www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/index.html
www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html